


How to Save a Life: Book 1: Destiny and Trust

by beckettlovescastlealways



Series: How to Save a Life [1]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bending (Avatar), Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, F/F, F/M, preview of nanowrimo 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-24
Updated: 2018-03-15
Packaged: 2019-01-22 07:23:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 33
Words: 74,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12476348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beckettlovescastlealways/pseuds/beckettlovescastlealways
Summary: What if Korra left the compound after she mastered waterbending. What if Asami met Korra before she met the boys? What if Kuvira and Korra had met before she was even a guard of Zaofu. What if... What if?





	1. Chapter 1

"I'm gonna take Naga for a run." A voice yells up to the White Lotus guards.  
  
Saki looks down to the voice, cyan eyes look up through the parka hood before looking across the horizon before nodding "Yes, Avatar Korra, though I looks like a storm may be rolling in soon." He nods bending the gate open and when it's only about a foot open the Avatar slips out calling her polar bear dog to follow. The two figures quickly disappear from Saki's sight.  
  
As soon as Korra can no longer see the town or the compound she calls Naga to stop, curling her hand into a fist she shoots a flame into the nearest snow mound, "I'm the Avatar, Naga." She mumbles as the ice forms from snow, "They didn't keep Aang locked up, or Roku, or Kuruk and they definitely didn't for Kyoshi. Why…" she looks around, punching at the air again, "Why do Tenzin and Sokka and _Dad_ think they can do that to me? How can I keep balance, a citizen of the four nations, if I hardly even know the southern Water Tribe, let alone the Fire Nation or Earth Kingdom or the United Republic." She growls to her best friend, just then she hears a horn, looking up she sees a ship almost ready to leave harbor, the eleven year old Avatar looks to her companion, "Want to go for a ride girl?" She asks before taking off in a run, the polar bear dog pup following close behind.  
  
Arriving at the Harbor she catches her breath as snow starts to fall, keeping her hood up she reads the locations the ships are headed towards, Republic City, Ember Island, Ba Sing Se, Omashu, all fancy passenger ships, _They'll notice me_ Korra thinks before coming across a slightly smaller ship, a Earth Kingdom cargo ship headed to Chin, "Kya says Chin is near Kyoshi Island." Korra mutters with a nod, "Come on, Naga.” She walks up to the ramp, finding a pattern as they load furs and tools for trade she carefully sneaks on finding a pile that looks fully loaded she leans into it, Naga rests her head on her lap, “I need to learn Earthbending in the Earth Kingdom, right Naga?” She murmurs softly before closing her eyes, it should be almost a full day before they get to the Earth Kingdom so may as well make herself comfortable.

 

She is woken several hours later by the ship’s foghorn looking out the one window in her sight she sees the sun had set, she has to blink a few times as the compound had had a midnight sun for the past month so seeing the stars surprised her a bit, “We’ve gone quite a ways, huh, Naga?” the pup lets out a yip as Korra’s stomach growls, she looks out desperately trying to figure where they are, “Looks like we’re almost there, I see land and I think we’re out of the south Naga. We’ll find some food when we get there, okay, girl?” she pats Naga’s head, “Let’s get ready to go.” she pulls her parka off and ties it around her waist.

 

Sure enough, less than an hour later the ship docks and the ramp opens she quickly runs out, accidentally running into one of the workers, “Thank you, Sorry.” she yells over her shoulder as she runs down a street running straight into a man, “Sorry.” she murmurs attempting to sidestep him.

 

“Oh no you don’t.” her grabs her wrist, lifting her off the ground, “You kids need to learn some respect.”

 

“Hey, let me go you creep.” Korra growls, swiping at him, unable to find much water she pulls the earth from below her at the hand on her wrist.

 

He laughs, “Oh, so you’re a half breed, huh. Daddy couldn’t stick to his own nation?”

 

“I’m not a…” she trails off _He doesn’t know I’m the Avatar_  “Naga, bite.” She orders the growling polar bear dog, who quickly jumps and clamps her jaws on the man’s arms, who lets go of Korra, the young Avatar runs out of the man reach, “Naga release.”

 

“Mutt, I’ll cook ya.” he growls before sending a couple flames from his hands.

 

Korra feels the heat as they turn down the next street, “Naga, should’ve gone to Republic City, huh?” she asks as they duck down an alley, after several minutes the man appears to have not have followed them, slowly she sticks her head out, not seeing the man she sighs in relief, “Creep.” she motions for Naga to follow, “What was that he called me, Half breed?” she mumbles to her best friend.

 

“Half breed means you’re from multiple nations, especially your parents.” a voice offers to her left, “It’s not exactly civilized, but some people are assholes.” Korra looks to the owner of the voice, it’s a girl, maybe seven or eight years older than her who walks up to her, with a small smile.

 

Korra nods softly, “Um, do you know where I could go to get some help with my earthbending?” she asks quietly.

 

“I hate to say it, but Master Xaan is one of those assholes.” The girl looks Korra over, “But you look like a strong bender, let me check something,” she grabs her metal arm band off her arm, handing it to Korra, “Feel anything?”

 

Korra focuses on the metal, it’s not cold like she thought it’d be but alive, not like water or even the little earth she had bent, less yielding, but alive nonetheless, “Yeah, like humming.” Korra responds, looking up to meet the girl’s green eyes.

 

“Well, then I think the place you should go is about three days north west from here, ever hear of Zaofu? Or the Metal Clan?”

 

“I think I heard my father say something but…” Korra shrugs.

 

“Okay, where is your father?”

 

“He’s…” Korra pauses she can’t go back to the compound she decides, “He died.” she lies, “And I never really knew my mom.”

 

“I’m sorry honey.” the lady nods, “What’s your name sweetie?”

 

“Korra.” no one knows her name in connection to being the avatar except the White Lotus and a few world leaders.

 

“Well, Korra, maybe I should introduce myself.” the girl responds, grabbing her armband and slipping it on again, “I’m Torah. Who’s your friend?” she asks motioning to the polar bear dog with one hand

 

“Naga, she came here with me.”

 

“Well, Korra and Naga.” Torah grabs something out of her back pocket, “I want you to take this map, and these yuans, the city of Zaofu is where you should go, the Metal Clan lives there and you’ll find a teacher there who’ll make you into an amazing earthbending master and metalbender, okay, Sweetie?” she shoves the objects into her hands

 

“But, I can’t, I can’t pay you back for the map or the money.”

 

“Just pay it forward, Sweetie. Do good in the world, okay?”

 

“You- you’re sure?”

 

“Yeah. Go to Zaofu, okay Korra?”

 

“Okay.” she nods, “Thank you.”

 

“That way.” the other girl points before standing, “I’d take you to the edge of town, but I need to get going to work, okay, Sweetie?”

 

“I’ll be okay, thank you for all your help.”

 

“You're welcome.”

 

Korra runs down the street almost to the edge of town, “Ah, there you are, ya brat.” A familiar voice says from her right, she turns to see firebender creep.

 

“Just heading out of town.” Korra offers, no need to get into a fight if she didn't need to, especially as she's kind of stuck with earth if she doesn't what to reveal she's the Avatar.

 

“In an urn, half breed.” He responds with a smile.

 

“You don't look like you're from the Fire Nation.” She smirks, keeping just out of his grabbing range

 

“Take that back you fucking mutt.” He growls shooting an arc of fire in her direction, she jumps over it.

 

“Hey! Look I get you've had a bad day but I just want to leave.” she bends an earth wall between her and the man.

 

Her sends two flame punches her way, she dodges the first though the second hits her side, she drops to her knees in pain, “Naga, fight.” She growls taking her hand away from her side to see the burn as the polar bear dog growls, stepping in front of the young avatar.

 

The man steps back, “Call off your mutt.”

 

“No.” Korra gasps out, standing quickly, “Now let us leave.”

 

“This isn't over.” He growls before running back into town.

 

“Let's go, Naga.” Korra responds, taking a lurching step towards the path, Naga wines, “I'm okay, girl, we'll get help in Zaofu, or somewhere along the way.” She winces as she takes the next step, gasping in pain.

 

After almost four days of walking, Korra sees a glint on the horizon, a city of metal, “Looks like… looks like the home… home of the Metal Clan, huh? Naga?” She gasps out coughing as she stumbles, falling to the ground. Naga whines, nudging the Water Tribe girl, who groans but doesn't get up, “It… hurts, Naga.” She groans before closing her eyes. Nags barks, nudging her master again to no avail, liking the girl's face and not getting any response the pup runs towards the metal domes Korra had been walking towards.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Kuvira walks along the border of the Beifong estate her hand barely twitching as she bends the slab of metal into shapes.

Sphere

Cube

Star

Diamond

Sphere

She does the pattern unconsciously as she continues on the familiar path. Her long black hair pulled back into a braid done by Su. She shifts her shoulders and the metal necklace, a symbol of her status as a metalbender and Su’s protégé in the Metal Clan. Continuing on the path she watches the ground bending any debris away before she walks on it, continuing the pattern, each shape appears for a shorter and shorter amount of time as she bends it quicker, at one point the metal is almost liquid, resting on her palm and between her fingers.

Suddenly her path is blocked by a white mass, watching it, she realizes it's a polar bear dog, a harness is on the animal, which Kuvira vaguely notes is unusual, “You're quite a ways from home.” The earthbender murmurs as she takes a few steps closer, the dog doesn't look full grown as it looks towards her, letting out a small yip as it walks toward her, Kuvira takes a step back, forming the metal in to a glove, the dog softly nips at the loose sleeve of Kuvira’s dress, attempting to pull her somewhere walking just ahead of Kuvira, “Hey let me go.” The animal whines turning its head away from the town, “You want me to follow you?” The creature barks, Kuvira looks around, she's the only one in sight, “Okay, fine, let's see what you want to show me, Nipper.”

The polar bear dog starts to run, Kuvira has to bend to keep up with it.

After almost half and hour, Kuvira sees a figure in the road, her guide lays beside it. Slowing to a walk Kuvira sees the animal is lying next to a girl, maybe 2 or 3 years younger than herself, “She your friend, nipper?” She asks as she surveys the girl closer, she was clearly Water Tribe, the completion and clothes told her that, the burn taking up a good portion of her left torso on the other hand, shows why the girl is unconscious in the road, kneeling next to the girl, Kuvira rests the back of her palm on her forehead as she's seen Su do to her children, the skin’s hot, the girl has a fever.

Kuvira puts her hand on the unconscious girl’s shoulder, “Hey. Can you get up?” She asks, shaking her softly doubting she can even hear the metalbender, but as she looks back up to the girl's face, green eyes meet azure which widens a bit before the girl moves her hand a bit, sending some dirt towards Kuvira, who easily brushes it away, though the girl looks like a waterbender she's apparently an earthbender.

“Naga.” The girl seems to cough looking towards the pup before turning her glazed eyes toward Kuvira, attempting to push herself up, bending a few more chunks of earth at the metalbender.

“Hey, I- I'm not going to hurt you.” Kuvira offers the younger girl softly, who nods mutely, looking at her curiously, “I'm Kuvira.”

“I'm Kor-” she starts coughing.

“Hey,” Kuvira moves closer to the girl, carefully resting her hand on the injured girl's back, “It's okay, I- I got you. We're a couple miles from my house, we can get you some help.” She doesn't know why she feels protective of this girl.

“N-no, have to go, have to get to Zaof-” she begins before closing her eyes again, falling into Kuvira's chest, whatever consciousness she had regained was quickly lost.

Realizing she wouldn't be able to get the girl awake again and she needed help, she hesitantly puts her arms under the girl’s shoulders and knees, she looks to the animal, “Help me get her to town?” She asks softly as she stands, lifting the girl up, “Su’ll know what to do.” She mutters, not knowing if she's telling the girl, the polar bear dog or herself.

She got back to Zaofu faster than she ever had. When Kuvira gets to the house she orders the pup to stay as she walks into the house, her arms shaking due to the girl's weight, “Su?” She calls, her voice shaking worse than her arms walking towards the Metal Clan matriarch’s office.

“In here Kuvira.” A voice comes out of the office, “What's wrong?” She asks after a moment, apparently having heard the girl's voice shaking.

As Kuvira gets to the office she pushes the door open with her foot, showing Su the unconscious girl, “I- I need some- some help.” She begs.

“Kuv.” Su immediately stands, crossing her office in three quick steps, taking the girl out of Kuvira's arms, “Kuvira, what happened?” She lies the unconscious girl on one of the couches in the office, “who's this?”

“I was on the edge of the estate, and a polar bear dog came and started pulling me, I followed it to her, she was just out of town, I-I didn't know what to do. She's hurt. She's an earthbender, Su.” The past hour spewing out of her mouth as Su feels the girl's forehead, before Su stands, dialing a number into the radio.

“We need a healer at the Beifong estate, quickly.” She orders before hanging up and turning her full attention to her adoptive daughter, “Are you okay, Kuv?” She looks the younger girl over as if she'll see a burn on her.

“Yeah, I'm fine, Su.” Kuvira nods, drawing into herself.

“Thank the spirits.” Su whispers, pulling the 13-year-old into a tight hug, letting go when there's a knock at the front door.

Su runs her hand over her clothes before walking to open the door, leading the healer to her office where Kuvira feels frozen leaning against the wall as the healers kneel beside the girl, “What's wrong with her, San?” Su asks, placing a hand delicately on Kuvira's shoulder

“Beside the burn?” The healer asks, “it doesn't look like she's eaten in days, and the fact that she's dehydrated is probably why these cuts didn't bleed her out two days ago. But all that's recent, up until recently she's been well taken care of.” The healer draws water from his flask to his hands, Kuvira sees the water start to glow as he covers most the burn, “What's her name?”

“We don't know, we need her to wake up to know that.”

“Kor- I'd assume Kori.” Kuvira corrects, “at least that's what she said, but she was kinda out of it.” Kuvira responds

“How old’s the burn?” Su asks.

“I'd say 3, 4 days.” The healer shrugs moving his hands just a bit to cover the rest of the burn, he looks up to Kuvira, “I take it you're the one who brought her here?” He smiles towards her.

“I- I wasn't sure what to do.” She says though she looks to Su instead of San, “I brought her here.” This time she nods, watching Su’s eyes for any sign of anger or disappointment, she doesn't see any but that doesn't mean her guardian wasn't.

“You did good, Sweetheart.” Su responds squeezing her shoulder softly, “Why don't you go play with Opal or Huan, I'll come get you when this is done. When we know more, Kuvira?”

“Can I stay? Please? She seemed scared, Su.” Kuvira asks instead.

“If you're sure.” The matriarch nods, “But if you change your mind, you don't have to stay.”

Kuvira takes a small step towards the girl as Su walks to her desk, pressing a button on the wall, “Baatar, when you have time could you please come to my office, darling?” The healer’s hands still glow as Kuvira watches the burn shrinks, the remaining tatters of her Water Tribe blue shirt getting soaked.

The speaker crackles to life, “I’ll be there in a few, dear.”

The healer stands, “The fever should go down when she gets some water in her system, give her a few hours to wake up, if she doesn't you can try waking her, but her chi’s strong, she should be fine, if she doesn't wake at all before midday tomorrow, call me.” He tells Su who agrees before he leaves.

Su steps towards the girl, looking over her face, unconsciously brushing the girl’s hair away from her face, a small cut graces the girl’s forehead, and several other small ones cover her arms and legs, “Did I hear you right, Kuvira, when you said a polar bear dog?” She asks quietly.

“That's what it looked like, she's out front, I think she called her Naga, but…” she shrugs, “like I said, she was pretty out of it”

“Looks like she still is, huh?”

“Yeah.” she nods.

“Well, I think she’s saying here a few days, at least until she’s stronger and we know her name and where she’s from.”

“And if she doesn’t tell you? Or she doesn’t have a place to go back to?” Kuvira asks with a frown watching the other girl.

“Well, Kuvira, Zaofu was built on making each person the best they can be, I think we can probably take one more citizen, right dear?” Baatar Senior’s voice behind he answers as he looks into his wife’s office. He walks in, looking the young girl over, “She looks a bit older than Opal, someone’s probably looking for her.” he looks to Su, “Do I want to know where she came from?” he asks with a teasing grin towards Su.

“Kuvira found her outside of town, a polar bear dog, we think it's her’s, lead her to her from town. Kuvira carried her here. As for finding guardians, let's… let’s just wait, at least till we have a full name.”

Before Baatar can answer the girl on the couch starts whimpering, trying to pull into herself, “Hey, it's okay.” Kuvira whispers, hesitantly grabbing the other girl's hand, leaning a bit on the couch, trying to comfort her before either of the adult can react, the other girl calms, “I'll go get her some water.” She looks over to Su and Baatar.

“I'll go get it, sweetie, she seems to like you.” Baatar smiles, “I'll also see if we can get a guest room set up for her.”

“Thank you, darling.” Su nods.

After he leaves, Kuvira looks towards the Metal Clan matriarch, “Do you think maybe she came here for something other than help? Or at least help with the burn?”

“What do you mean?” Su asks with a small smile.

“Suppose she's from the South, you've told me they sometimes have problems with mixed heritage people.” She looks down to the girl, she hasn't let go of her hand, “She's an earthbender, powerful but not trained, or at least it didn't feel like it. She said she had to come here. We're the furthest south that she for sure wouldn't have trouble finding a teacher.” She looks back towards her guardian, “If she's here to learn, and it's okay with her, and you, I'd like to teach her.”

“You're sure?” Su asks raising an eyebrow.

“You said I mastered earthbending, and I'm almost there with metal. You said the best way to learn is to teach. Please, Su, there's something telling me I should, you can have anyone watch, just, please.”

“If that's why she came across Zaofu, yes. But please, Kuvira, don't get your hopes up.”

“I won't.” Kuvira promises, keeping her hand in the girl's, watching her for any sign of waking up.

After a few minutes there's a knock at the door, “Mom?” A voice comes from the other side of the door.

“Come in Opal.” Su calls.

“There's a big thing in front of the house, mom.” The younger girl says before looking to Kuvira, “Kuvy.” The girl smiles and walks towards the other girl, “I haven't seen you all day.” She moves to hug her.

“Careful, Ope.” Kuvira warns motioning to the girl behind her.

“Who's she?” Opal asks Kuvira and her mother.

“She's my friend.” Kuvira answers quickly without much thought

“Why is she sleeping?”

“Well, she was hurt pretty bad, love.” Su answers, “Her body's resting.”

“Oh, okay,” the nine-year-old nods, “Is the animal her’s?”

“Yeah, that's her polar bear dog.” Kuvira nods.

Opal nods, “Want to go play, Kuvy?”

“Can we tomorrow, Ope? I'd like to keep an eye on my friend.”

“You promise tomorrow?” Opal asks.

“You have my word.” Kuvira agrees.

There's a knock at the door, looking up it's Baatar, with a small cup of water, “Hey dad, have you seen Kuvira’s friend?” Opal asks as she jumps to walk by her father.

“I have,” he nods handing a glass of water to Kuvira before looking to his wife, “Kanon is setting up one of the rooms for her.”

“Thank you, darling.”

“Hey, sweetie, want to go play?” The engineer asks Opal.

“Yeah. The twins do too, we need even teams.”

“Well then we better go, huh?” He asks with a small laugh, allowing the girl to pull him out.

After they figure the girl is out, Kuvira pulls her hand out of the other girl's hand, moving it to her shoulder, carefully shaking her, “Hey, come on, can you open your eyes for me?” She asks calmly, the girl groans but doesn't open her eyes, Kuvira sighs and looks to Su.

“She just needs some rest, Kuvira, come on,” she gently lifts the girl with practiced ease, “let’s get her in the room, maybe she'll wake up in a little bit, okay?”

“Yeah.” Kuvira nods with a small frown. Following Su through the halls, just as they get to the room a figure leaves the room.

“Aiwei?” Su asks, Kuvira finds herself stepping between the Metal Clan matriarch and it's truth seeker, her arms crossed.

“Ah, Suyin, Kanon was working on this room, I told him there was no need.” He looks down toward Kuvira.

“Baatar told him to do that, Aiwei.” Su responds with a small frown.

“Oh, my bad, Suyin, next time I'll ask you.” He steps back like the weasel-snake Kuvira is sure he is.

“Please, see that you do.” Su nods, Kuvira notices she's holding the Water Tribe girl a bit tighter.

“Who's this?” He asks tapping his fingers together and looking over Kuvira to the girl in Su’s arm.

“Kuvira found her outside of town, she was hurt pretty bad.” Su offers quickly, “We'll figure the rest out once she's a bit better.”

“I assume she's the one the room is for?” The truth-seer asks with a frown of his own.

“Yes.” Su nods before sliding past Aiwei, “I'll talk to you later, Aiwei.”

“Yes, Suyin.” The truth seer bows as Kuvira quickly follows Su into the room, shutting it behind her.

“Hey, Kuv, do you have a shirt she can borrow for a bit? I'll find another one tomorrow but, I don't know if I can today and this shirt is almost scraps.”

“Yeah.” Kuvira nods before running to her room just down the hall, grabbing one of her clean darker green shirts and folding it as she walks back, setting it on one of the chairs in the room, “This okay?”

“Yes. Though I don't think she'll need it til tonight or so.” Su admits softly.

“Okay.” The teen nods sitting in the second chair, resting her bare foot on the floor.

“You can go do something, Kuvira, I'll check on her every little bit.” Su tells her with a small laugh at her protégé’s protectiveness over the girl she's said only a few sentences to.

“I don't want her to wake up alone, even if she doesn't know me that's better than waking up abandoned.” Su pauses at the last word, a small frown on her face before walking over to her adoptive daughter and gives her a small hug, Kuvira doesn't pull away, she knows both Su and Baatar had heard her cry and scream about that one word, she had decided this girl wouldn't be felt that hand by her, “I'll wait.” She murmurs into the older woman's shoulder, she feels her nod before pulling away, “I'm gonna wait.” She repeats, leaning back into the chair.

“Okay.” Su nods, “I'll be back in a bit, I have a little work to do.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Come on, Kuvira, bedtime.” A woman's voice is the first the Korra hears as she slowly feels herself waking up; the voice seems vaguely familiar to her. She tries to open her eyes but they feel too heavy.

“Just a little longer?” A younger voice says, Kuvira, maybe? She feels like she should know this voice, or the name, but she can't figure why.

“No, come on, it's after midnight, come on, Sweetheart.” Who are these people anyway? Where is she? She feels around, she's on a bed or something soft, but bed seems the best option with the soft fabric.

“But-” she hears movement beside her, the voice is now further away but not much.

“No buts, come on, I promise I'll keep an eye on her, but you, my dear, need some sleep.” 

“Fine, wake me up early tomorrow?” How'd she get here? Korra runs through all she remembers, the conversation between Sokka and her dad, then the boat ride, the town, Chin, she got burnt by that firebender. Zaofu, that's where she was going, it hurt, she doesn't know if she slept at all in the days she was walking, she tried but it just hurt, then she fell. The green eyed girl, that's where she knew Kuvira’s name, right? Did the girl take her somewhere? Maybe her house? She notices it doesn't hurt anymore, was she healed? Korra doesn't know, but she needs to wake up and figure out what's going on.

“I will.” The first voice responds, before she hears the two leave. 

Korra tries to force her eyes open again, this time she manages to at least crack them open, looking around she sees lots of green and metal, Earth Kingdom. She notes, slowly she attempts to push herself up to get a better view, putting all her weight on her right hand, there's a table beside her with a glass of water, two chairs are by the bed that she's in, looking down she sees the burn is mostly healed, still pink but much closer to healed now, her shirt, or what's left of it doesn't cover it. She can't look any further before footsteps start to get closer, she attempts to drop into a lying position again as, but gasps in pain as she pulls her side just enough to hurt, she drops from her hand to her elbow, her hands automatically slide to her side.

“Careful honey.” The voice that's not Kuvira says softly, and she feels the bed sink a bit and a hand on her arm, she feels the pain slowly fade, she looks towards the hand on her arm, and the woman it's attached to. The woman has dark black hair and pale green eyes, she's wearing green and metal, just like the room, “Good to see you awake, you were pretty badly hurt.” She murmurs handing Korra the glass of water, Korra hadn't realized how thirsty she was until then, taking the cup and drinking it greedily.

“Who are you? And where- where am I?” She flinches, Katara and her mom would've told her to be more polite, “I'm sorry.” but the woman laughs.

“I'm Suyin Beifong, you can call me Su.” Beifong, a relative of Toph? Korra can't help but tense, now that she's out of the compound she refuses to be taken back, “And you're in my city, Zaofu. My daughter, Kuvira,” she's the green eyed girl’s mother, “was brought by your polar bear dog to you. She carried you here; I actually only just got her to leave.”

“Naga’s a good girl.” Korra nods unsure what to say to the rest of what she was just told.

“So her name is Naga,” Su nods with a smile, “Now the question is what's yours?”

Korra pauses, if she's related to Toph and this is her city, she'll likely be able to contact the White Lotus, but she helped her, she could run if all else fails, “I'm Korra.”

“Well, Korra, you look quite a ways from your home.” That compound isn't home.

“I need an earthbending trainer; I won't find one down south.” Korra offers a half truth.

Su nods, and opens her mouth probably to ask something else, but Korra's stomach growls, “Would you like something to eat?” Korra finds herself nodding before she can think about it. “Okay,” Su nods before standing, offering her hand to Korra, “Think your side’s up for a short walk?”

Even if it wasn't, Korra wasn’t going to show it, she needed an earthbending teacher, and if Su thought she was too weak there's no way she would find one in Zaofu, then she's not sure when she would go or what she would do. So she nods carefully throwing her legs off the side of the bed, her shirt, no longer stuck to her side by dried blood, falls open.

“Would you like a new shirt before we go? That one's a bit torn and Kuvira left one for you to borrow.” She motions to a shirt on one of the chairs, just as green as the rest of the room.

“You're sure she won't mind?” Korra asks softly, not wanting to step on anyone's toes.

Su nods, “She won't.” Before she grabs the shirt and hands it to the girl.

Korra nods before untying her parka from her waist, she then takes the blue shirt off, her back to the Metal Clan Matriarch before she quickly pulled the green shirt on, and then folds the blue shirt, it's not that bad, she could probably fix it.

Carefully she stands, easing weight onto her left side, thankfully not causing it to pull again, before taking a couple tentative steps toward Su. Who's watching her before nodding and motioning her to follow.

Keeping close to the woman, Korra follows her down the long hall, more green and metal, though it's a bit more, soft, Korra supposes is the word, through the hall, there was several paintings and pictures of what Korra assumed was Suyin’s family, it looked like she had six kids total, the green eyed girl, Kuvira, Korra corrects, and another girl who looks a bit younger than her, then four boys, then Su and her husband. The large family was so different than her parents, who only had her. 

Before she can comment on the pictures, Su opens a door close to the end of the hall, she turns on a teapot before turning to Korra, “Is tea okay? My aunt and uncle both swear by it after a long day.”

Korra gives her a small smile, “So did…” Katara, “My Grandmother.” She settles on.

Su nod, “Sounds like a smart woman.”

“She was.” Still is most the time

Su nods slowly before turning and grabbing a couple things behind her, placing it on the table, “Please sit, Korra.” She motions before sitting down herself, carefully pouring two cups of tea and handing one to Korra, shoving some food towards the girl when she doesn't take any. After a few minutes of silence as Korra eats, not realizing how hungry she had been, after several minutes, Su speaks, “You seem a bit young to be traveling alone.” the sentence is punctuated with a small drink of her tea.

“I'm not alone, I have Naga.” Korra responds with a small shrug.

Su frowns, “Don't you have someone at home who'll be missing you?”

Plenty of people will be missing the Avatar, as for those who would miss Korra, her parents, during their monthly family visit, Kya, Katara, and Sokka maybe, but they'd still miss the avatar more, she's their link to Aang, “Nope.” She answers with minimal hesitation.

The frown deepens, but she nods, “Well, where are you coming from?”

“Harbor City.” She half lies, kids disappear from there all the time, and her dad lives there sometimes, she lives way out in that compound, which at times is almost like a city, with all the guards.

“I assume you got here by boat?” 

“To Chin at least, that's where I ran into the jerk who gave me the burn.”

“You walked here from Chin with that burn?” At this the woman sounds a mix of concerned and impressed.

“Yeah.” Korra nods, “I probably could've cut a day or more out but, it hurt sometimes too bad to move, that last flare up was definitely the worst though.” She thinks of the one just outside of Zaofu.

“Where are you headed?”

“Well, here was the first on the list, Zaofu. Then if it doesn't work out here, I was thinking Republic City or Ba Sing Se or Omashu. If none of those work, I was thinking trying some smaller towns.”

“Why here?” Su asks quickly.

“Well, I heard this was one of the best places to go to learn earth and metal bending, especially if your heritage isn't obviously Earth Kingdom.” Korra shrugs taking a drink, “Figured cities would be more likely to have someone who'd be willing to teach me. I'm a good worker, and pretty strong bender, I just need someone to teach me to direct it.” The last bit is a direct quote from Katara.”

Su nods and she looks to be thinking, before shaking her head, “Well, Korra, I think we could find some place for you in Zaofu. But it's getting pretty late tonight; maybe this conversation would be best left until later, yeah?”

“Thank you.” Korra nods, cleaning up the space in front of her.

“I got it, sweetie.” Su stops her, “Let's just get you to bed and to sleep. How's the side.” 

“It's fine.” Korra responds without thought.

“Good.” Su nods before motioning her to follow back to the room she had woken up in, though the walk seems much shorter this time, Su points out various rooms and tells Korra her family's names, though Korra tried to remember she only got a few, her husband and eldest son were both named Baatar, and junior was about four years older than her, then she had another son, Korra couldn't remember his name, but he was a bender, then Kuvira, the green eyed girl was only 18 months older than her, then her younger daughter, Opal, then a pair of twin boys, Wei and another W name. Korra promises herself she'll remember them tomorrow, as she gets into the bed. 

She can't help but notice Su watching her, but she doesn't say anything instead closes her eyes, listening until the matriarch walks away, her footsteps fading away before she lets herself relax a bit and fall into a light sleep.

••••  
A knock at the door is what wakes Korra several hours later. Before she can even open her eyes she hears the door open and close softly followed by light footsteps. She opens her eyes quickly only to close them again as light hits her eyes, turning her head away from the windows before opening them again more slowly.

Slowly she turns back towards where the footsteps stopped, looking back at her is the green eyed girl, Kuvira, her hair hanging loose and wild today. When she sees Korra's awake she smiles widely, “You're awake!” 

Korra hesitantly nods, “I suppose you're Kuvira?” 

“Yep?” She gives her a small look, “I guess you weren't quite as out of as I thought.”

Korra shakes her head, “Nope, I woke up last night, your mom told me.”

Kuvira nods, “So, what should I call you?”

“Well most people call me Korra.” She shrugs.

“Korra.” Kuvira seems to be trying the name out on her tongue as she repeats it, before she smiles, “Nice to meet you, Korra.”

“And you as well, Kuvira. And thank you, your mom told me what you did.”

“Please, stop calling Su that.” The older girl asks, her entire body tense, looking at the other girl's confused face, “She's not my mother, and Baatar’s not my father either.” She explains stepping back with her arms crossed tightly across her body, turning away from Korra.

“Okay.” Korra nods, holding her tongue from telling her how proud Su seemed to be of her, as proud as she seemed to be of her other kids, she gets the distinct feeling that Kuvira doesn't want to hear that instead she stands and carefully takes a step towards the slightly taller girl and puts her hand on her shoulder, Kuvira jumps before turning towards her, “I'm sorry, won't happen again.” 

The Earth Kingdom girl nods, rubbing her eyes quickly before sighing, “I'm sorry, it's not your fault.” She shakes her head, “It's a bit early, but want to go eat breakfast? The others should be up soon.” She shrugs slipping Korra's hand off her shoulder. Korra nods, she'll never turn down food. Kuvira smiles “Let me real quick pull my hair back, Su may have a fit, she thinks it's unruly.” She rolls her eyes before grabbing Korra's hand and pulling her to the door, the avatar in hiding lets out a small laugh before following the girl.


	4. Chapter 4

A knock at the door causes Kuvira to jump for a split second before looking at the clock above her desk, not as late as I thought it was she thinks before opening the door to see Korra, a small smile on her face, her hair hanging loosely on her shoulders, a pair of scissors in her hand, “Hey,” the Metal bender responds with a smile, “What's up?” It was a bit early to start lessons as they have every day for the past three weeks.

“I want you to help me cut my hair.” Korra responds a crooked smile trying to get the other girl to agree, though her calm demeanor is broken by the fidgeting of her foot.

Kuvira motions for Korra to enter before closing the door, “Why?” She asks taking the scissors from her and setting them on her desk.

Korra shrugs, “Just want a change.” She runs her her hand through her hair, still looking towards Kuvira.

“If I say no you're just gonna do it yourself, huh?”

“I may ask Huan or Baatar; though they probably won't agree right?” She shrugs again.

Kuvira sighs but smiles, “Get in the chair.” She motions, grabbing the scissors, “You're sure about this, Korra?”

“Yeah, just above my shoulders.” Korra asks, chopping at her hair with a flat hand.

“Okay…” Kuvira nods before grabbing a chunk of the other girl's hair and cutting several inches off, allowing the locks to fall to the floor, before sighing and continuing.

•••

“Okay, done.” Kuvira announces after almost half an hour, handing Korra a small hand mirror.

“Thank you.” Korra responds, barely looking before she stands, “Want to train?”

“Actually, I want to try something else.”

“Oh?” Korra asked with a grin.

“How do you feel about sparring, so I can see where you need to improve.”

“Yeah.” Korra smiles.

“Good, come on.” Kuvira smirks, she gets the feeling Korra learns best in trial by fire, well in this case boulder, time to test the theory.

Slowly the pair go to the training grounds, to the south of the house, Kuvira stomps, lifting a circle about five feet across off ground about 18 inches above the rest of the ground, “Knock me off, okay, Korra?”

“Are you attacking too?” Korra asks dropping into a bending stance, she had been learning fast, even Su thought so, she had run through the basics in just over a week and a half, and now they were on much more advanced forms, Kuvira was interested in learning if and how well Korra can metalbend.

“Not this first time, next time, yeah.” Kuvira nods, “Knock me off, Korra.” She repeats with a smirk, her arms behind her back.

“Ooohkay…” Korra responds kick through the earth, only for Kuvira to side step it, she can't help the smirk that plays across her lips as Korra repeats, “Okay.” Suddenly running foreword kicking a boulder towards Kuvira, splitting it into three pieces in midair, only for Kuvira to duck under and between all of them.

“Are you gonna try, Korra? Or can I just stand here all day?” Kuvia taunts, leaning back a bit, only for her to realise her feet were frozen in place, she looks down to see that Korra had used the earth to freeze her in place before sending another pair of rocks at her, one clips her shoulder, then she feels the dirt boots leave her feet as another one hits her stomach, sending her backwards. Kuvira coughs as Korra jumps off the stand and offers her a hand up, “I don’t think I taught you that.” Kuvia mumbles rubbing her shoulder, that’s gonna leave a bruise.

“It was an adaptation of a waterbending move,” Korra shrugs, “Thought it was worth a shot.”

“Well, it certainly worked.” Kuvia nods, grabbing Korra’s hand as the younger girl pulls her to her feet, only to drop her hand as her eyes go wide, “Hey, Korra, you okay?” Kuvira asks, looking over her shoulder to see what spooked her so bad, only to see three men in indigo cloaks, talking to Su.

“Please, don't call me my name around them.” Korra responds.

“What? Why? How do you know them? Are you hiding from them?”

“They're the White Lotus, and I'd really rather they not see me.” Korra explains quietly, “I'll explain later.”

“Let's head up to Kyoshi ridge, then you will explain, okay?” Kuvira says with a frown, Korra really hasn't given her nor Su or anyone as far as she knows reason to doubt her reasoning for being here until that moment, Kuvira was willing to give her new friend the benefit of the doubt.

•••

“This is why we look at the weather before we come up here.” Kuvira mutters as it starts raining, they're almost at the top of the hill.

“Do you know what the White Lotus’ job is?” Korra asks her softly walking beside the metal bender.

“Su said they transcend the nations and governments of the world.” Kuvira shrugs, “They originally were in search of truth and enlightenment, but now their main job is to the avatar, training, protecting, aiding.”

“Holding in a compound away from everyone.” Korra mutters bitterly, Kuvira looks at her, a single eyebrow raised

“You okay, Korra?”

The other girl nods, “Just please, listen to me after this.” As she raises her hand

“This?” The earth kingdom girl asks, watching the hand. Korra focuses on her hand, and after several seconds a small flame plays on her palm. Kuvira steps back, “Korra?” She demands, having a pretty good idea but not wanting to jump to conclusions.

“I've mastered water, and I'm not so good with fire but that's where I'm going next because the cycle says I have to do earth before I do fire.” Korra mumbles shaking her hand from the flame.

“You're- you’re Korra. You’re the Avatar!” Kuvira answers taking a small step back

“Yeah, I am.” Korra nods.

“Su, I have to tell her.” Kuvira responds stepping towards the path down the hill as the rain quickly turns into a storm.

“No!” Korra yells, grabbing Kuvira’s arm, “Please, Kuvira.” Kuvira looks into cyan eyes, she hasn't seen Korra scared before.

“Why should I?” Kuvira asks pulling her arm out of the Avatar’s grasp.

162 steps by 251.” Korra responds.

“What?”

“That's the size of the compound they want to train me in. Like a caged bird supposed to sit and wait til they think I'm ready then shove me out into the world to do what they think I should do. That's not how the Avatar is supposed to learn and it's not how I'm supposed to decide the fate of the world.”

“Korra-” Kuvira begins only to be cut off by a lightning strike behind them, and Kuvira smells smoke.

“Fire.” Korra mutters, “Come on, let's get back to town.”

“Yeah.” Kuvira nods, grabbing Korra's hand, trying not to let memories overwhelm her. She feels pain in her lower leg, looking down, the fire had spread and caught her baggy training pants on fire, Korra quickly bends some water at her leg, putting the fire out as Kuvira stumbles to the ground, she takes a breath in, smoke fills her lungs.

“Get out of here, Kuvira!” An ancient memory yells in her head

“Kuvira? You okay?” Korra asks bending a earth wall between them and the majority of the fire, a flame tries to jump over the wall at Kuvira, she tries to pull back, but her leg won't move, before Kuvira can do anything, Korra jumps in front of her, punching the fire away, before dropping the wall away from them, smothering the fire. Korra let's out a cough, “Well, that was… that was something, huh?”

“Look what you did, you freak.”

“Yeah.” Kuvira nods, looking down at her leg, the burns were definitely going to hurt, but they needed to get off this ridge.

“Let me see your leg.” Korra asks.

She feels herself thrown to the desert, “Go ahead and die out here, freak.”

“We have to go.”

“Not on that leg, Kuvira.” Korra responds pulling some rain from the air and allowing it to coat her hand, “Please let me see.”

“Fine.” Kuvira nods, trying desperately to control her breathing and memory.

“You okay?” Korra asks her hands glowing as she heals the older girl's leg.

Kuvira nods, not daring to open her mouth for what may come out. When the burn is mostly healed Kuvira pulls the avatar’s hands away from the burn, “It's fine, Su’ll ask how it healed.”

“You- you aren't going to tell her?” Korra questions

“No.” She shakes her head before smirking, “You still have some serious learning to do with earth and metal.”

“Yes, stifu ‘Vira.” The avatar responds helping the metalbender to her feet, “Besides, as fast as you can bend, you and everyone in this city couldn't catch me and Naga if we run.” She smiles allowing Kuvira to rest her weight on her.

“That remains to be seen.” Kuvira looks up, the rain doesn't appear to be lightening up any time soon, “Think you can bend us home, Avatar Korra.”

“I'll manage.”

 

 


	5. Chapter 5

As much as Korra disliked meditating at the compound, she's found it's better that than deal with the visions from the past Avatars, so she sits, back straight and legs folded in the lotus position on the floor her back to the door.

She sees flashes from past lives, too quick and varied for her to decipher, though, several of them look to be Sozin in Roku’s eyes. She attempts to focus on what they're trying to warn her about, but before she can, she hears a knock at the door that pulls her out of the meditation, she turns to the door as it opens. 

For a second, she sees Kuvira, older though she still has the same beauty mark and green eyes, though the small smile that's always there is now a wider, almost wild, her hair looks like it was once up but is now half up and half down, once again, the only word she can think is wild, the clothes she's wearing looks to be a military uniform with metal accents.

Just as fast as the image is there it's gone, and Kuvira is back to looking normal, “Hey, all us kids are gonna listen to ‘Kuruk and Ummi’ thought you'd want to join us?”

“Um…” Korra pauses for a couple seconds before unfolding her legs and standing, “Yeah, sounds fun.”

“Were you meditating?” Kuvira asks as they walk down the hall.

“Yeah, helps control my dreams, so I try and do it before I sleep.” And stops visions from the past and I don't know, future? Potential future?

“Does it work on nightmares?” Kuvira asks, rubbing the back of her neck, her cheeks redden as looks away from Korra.

“Yeah.” Korra nods stepping in front of Kuvira and stopping, attempting to meet the older girl's eyes.

“Could you maybe teach me?” Kuvira asks softly.

Korra grabs the metalbender’s hand, allowing a soft smile to cross her face as Kuvira looks up, “if you want to, of course I will.” 

“Thank you.” Kuvira nods, looking towards Korra, “Now, come on, the others will think we got lost.”

Entering the room, all the Beifong kids are sitting on the couches, Wing and Wei on the love seat closest to the hall, Huan sits on the love seat across the table from them, lying across both cushions, Opal is by her eldest brother, who is drawing on a pad of paper, with an empty spot beside her which Kuvira quickly takes, instead of sitting by Huan, Korra sits on the floor in leaning on the couch in front of Opal, “You guys we're almost late.” Baatar tells them as Huan tunes the radio to the station.

“We're here though, aren't we?” Kuvira responds with a giggle, “You try and wake up Korra quickly, she sleeps like a rock.”

“I can't say you're fully wrong, but I can say I wasn't sleeping this time. Now if you came in thirty minutes later I would've been done with meditation and would've been sleeping.” Korra shrugs, “Hey Baatar, where would I find some rope I could use for Naga?”

“Rope?” The eldest looks at Korra confused

“Yeah, Naga’s getting big enough to make a harness for riding. I know how to make one, I just need some rope.” The polar bear dog had grown to almost full size in the past five months she had been in Zaofu, she's plenty big enough to ride now, and trained well enough to do so too, Korra just needed somewhere not her friend's fun to hold onto and a place to tie stuff onto wouldn't be bad either.

“I'm sure I or Dad could find you some, any idea how much you'll need?”

“Shhhhh!” Huan breaks in, “It’s starting.”

“The Avatar and his love. When he lost her, he became less of a man and more of a monster. This is theirs story. This is the story of Avatar Kuruk and his love, Ummi.” The opening comes over the radio, Korra doesn't notice her shoulders were tensed until Kuvira puts her hand on her shoulder, causing Korra to jump before letting out a small sigh as she allows herself to lean back against the couch and listen to the story.

•••

After the show is over the kids talk a bit more before Su sticks her head in, telling them it's Opal and the twins’ bedtime. The older kids don't have to go to sleep, but they all head back to their rooms, Kuvira following Korra to the Avatar's pretty sparse room. “Hey, you okay? You seem kinda down.” Kuvira asks, closing the door behind her.

Korra runs her hand through her hair before nodding, “I'm fine.” Before sitting on the floor, motioning for Kuvira to join her, “So to meditate, you have to get into a comfortable position,” she folds her legs into the lotus position with practiced ease, Kuvira having to pull her ankles onto her leg, before matching Korra's hands, “‘Vira, you don't have to copy me, do what's comfortable for you.” The metal bender shifts her hands her left hand holding her fisted right but doesn't switch her legs, “Okay, close your eyes and breathe normally.”

“Okay.” Carefully closing her eyes

“Now, focus on your breathing.”

“That's all?” Kuvira asks

“And don't fall asleep.” Korra shrugs, “Other than that… well if your mind wanders follow it, but then come back to your breathing. And just try and do that for five to ten minutes, then slowly as the days go on let the time get longer.”

“Ten minutes?” Kuvira asks allowing her eyes to slip open.

“Yeah.” Korra decides to wait til later to meditate herself, watching her stifu, friend? After almost two minutes Kuvira’s shoulders drop just a bit. After another few minutes, her hands tense, popping her knuckles, her eyes screw shut and her lips pull into a deep frown, “‘Vira.” Korra whispers standing and reaching for the other girl's arm, only for green eyes to snap open before she can do much, “‘Vira.” She repeats as the older girl turns away, unfolding her legs and wiping at her eyes, “Hey, you okay?” Korra asks moving slightly closer to Kuvira, “I'm sorry,” she murmurs, putting a hand on Kuvira’s shoulder and sitting down beside the metalbender.

Kuvira shakes her head quickly, “Don't apologize, I'm fine, Korra.” Kuvira lies, her voice cracking half way through, “Just…Fuck,” she runs her hand through her hair, “Sorry.” She murmurs, pulling her legs against her chest, tears still being fought back.

“No need to apologize, just what's wrong?” Korra asks, her blue eyes meeting teary green.

“Sorry, I'm sorry, please.” Kuvira mumbles under her breath until Korra rests her other hand on Kuvira's other arm. Kuvira leans forward to Korra's chest, the avatar wraps her in a hug, humming in her friend's ear, trying anything to comfort the older girl. After several minutes she feels Kuvira pull back a bit, “I'm sorry.” She mutters in a hoarse voice.

“You're fine, ‘Vira.” Korra quickly responds, unthinkingly running her hands up and down her arms, “Are you okay?”

“Mostly.” Kuvira shrugs.

“What was that about?”

“That fire, about a month ago. It brought up some not so good memories.”

Korra raises an eyebrow, “Do you want to talk about it? Or I could get Su or one of the others, or nah?”

“It's just, how I ended up here, in Zaofu, with Su, isn't such a good story.” Kuvira sighs, “My parents were nonbenders, and they didn't particularly like that I could bend.” Kuvira fiddled with the end of her braid, moving just a bit closer to Korra, not drawing to look at the Avatar as she tells the story, “My father, he was a drunk, and my mother was a prostitute, they had plenty of arguments over whether I was his kid or not. And during one of those arguments, I guess he decided I wasn't because he became much more… well he hit me before but after, he was much worse.” She crosses her arms, her nails digging into her forearms, “One day I fought back, or tried, there was a candle and it get knocked to the ground, started a fire, my mother didn't make it out. Dad, as much of a bastard as he was to me, he really loved my mother, and for the next week, he beat me really bad, then dumped me in the desert outside of Zaofu, I was scared so when I saw any movement I bent, that caused Baatar Sr to come check and find me. And you can figure the rest.” Kuvira sighs, “So now you know, Su calls me her protege, I'm their charity case.” She spits the last few words out.

“‘Vira…” Korra begins only for Kuvira to interrupt her.

“I'll ask Su to see if someone else can train you.” Kuvira mutters standing up and pulling away from the Avatar.

“Kuvira.” Korra repeats grabbing Kuvira's arm, “Stop, what are you talking about?”

“I-” Kuvira turns to face the younger girl, “You can't seriously want me to still be your earthbending master after knowing that.”

“‘Vira.” Korra sighs, “Why would I want that, especially after finding out how much stronger you were than I already thought.”

“Stop, please don't do that. Don't pity me.”

“I'm not.” She hesitantly pulls the other girl into a hug, “Please, believe me.” Kuvira slowly nods into Korra's shoulder, before letting out a small laugh, which quickly turns into another sob as she leans into Korra, her legs feeling like they were about to fail her, Kuvira hadn't told anyone about her past since she told Su and Baatar when she was eight. Korra pulls away from the metalbender “Do you think Su or Senior would care if we went outside for a bit?”

“Nah, we have about an hour, ninety minutes if we're quiet.”

“Come on, we’re doing a race.”

“A race?” Kuvira questions slowly but follows Korra out nonetheless.

“You’re riding Naga.” Korra smirks softly as they walk out of the house, closing the door quietly behind them as they walk towards the tree the polar bear dog has taken to sleeping under.

“Has anyone who isn’t you ever rode her?”

“She likes you, Vira, and she knows to behave.”

“Didn’t you just tell Baatar she needed a harness?”

“The harness will make it easier to control her, or make room for more than one person. By yourself, you’ll be fine.”

“If you’re sure…” Kuvira mumbles as Korra wakes the beast, who lumbers to a standing position looking between Korra and Kuvira.

“Hey girl, you up for a race?” Korra asks giving her a few pets, Naga responds licking the Avatar in the face, “Okay,” Korra laughs, “Is it okay if Kuvira here rides you?” She asks, more for the metalbender than the polar bear dog, she's sure Naga won't mind. And sure enough, her spirit guide lumbers towards the older girl, giving her a lick before lying down in front of her house.

“Okay,” Kuvira nods carefully getting on the animal, Korra guiding her hands where to rest.

“You good?” Korra asks with a smile.

“Yeah,” Kuvira nods.

“Kay, ask her to get up.” Korra says taking a small step back.

“Up, Naga.” Kuvira orders, Naga stands and Korra steps forward, grabbing Kuvira's ankle.

“You steady?” She asks.

“Yes,” Kuvira offers with a smile and a small laugh.

“Okay, remember to hold on, if she gets going too fast, ask her to slow down, Naga, be gentle.” Korra responds letting Kuvira go, “Anyway, once around the dome, first one back here, wins.”

“You think you can beat Naga?” Kuvira laughs.

Korra shrugs, “Try me.”

“Okay, one.”

“Two.”

“Go!” Korra yells, taking off.

“Let's go, Naga.” Kuvira says, holding tight to the polar bear dog as she starts at a jog after her master.

•••

“How the heck did you stay so close?” Kuvira asks with a laugh as Korra comes in maybe four yards behind her and Naga.

“Lots of training.” Korra responds catching her breath as Kuvira slips off Naga who lies back down under the tree, only for Korra to lay down, using her guide as a pillow, looking up domeward, “Hey, you good?” Korra asks softly as Kuvira drops down by her, “After earlier…”

“I'm sorry, I shouldn’t've told you that.” Kuvira mutters, “Hell, it's been six years, it shouldn't affect me like that.”

“I'm glad you trusted me enough to tell me that.” Korra responds “Do you still want to learn meditation?”

“You want to try again after that breakdown.” Kuvira asks with a bitter smile, wiping at the remaining tear tracks on her face

“Eh, it's not usually that quick but it happens often enough, especially when dealing with chakras. You don't really know where your mind is going to take you.”

“Okay, chakras?” Kuvira raises an eyebrow.

“Seven pools of chi in the body. They're all blocked by something, I have to open them, the White Lotus would prefer in order, to master the Avatar State.”

“Can't you already do that?”

“If I'm in danger, or angry yeah, but I'm not in control, and that can do damage, lots of damage.”

“What happens if someone who's not the avatar unlocks their chakras?”

“Then, in theory they're supposed to become great benders, but not all great benders unlock all their chakras.” 

“Can we try?”

“You sure?” Korra asks feeling comfortable resting against the living heater that is Naga.

“I want to be over this shit.” Kuvira nods.

“Okay, let's wait a few days, then you'll need to learn to meditate for a while before we start that,” Korra responds curling further into the white fur.

“Mhh, don't fall asleep, I'm not dragging you back into the house.” Kuvira mutters only for Korra to groan.

“Shh, it's fine, just closing my eyes and imagining the stars.” Korra responds patting Kuvira's shoulder

“Fine, twenty minutes, then back in the house.” Kuvira agrees closing her own eyes.

Korra hears the metalbender’s breath even out before her own does.


	6. Chapter 6

“Korra, Kuvira!” A voice calls as light comes macross Kuvira's eyes, , she quickly opens her eyes and sees a blue sky,  _ shit, Su’s gonna skin us _ . Kuvira thinks shifting herself out from between the Avatar and the polar bear dog. Both of which made fine blankets during the winter, but as summer had firmly returned to Zaofu they’re stifling.

“Korra!” She yells shaking the girl, “Up and at ‘em, Su’s looking for us.” Only to receive a groan in response, “Come on, we fell asleep outside. Time to get up.”

“‘Vira, i’s too early,” Korra mutters swiping her hands at the metalbender.

“Nope, up.” Kuvira responds, pulling her remaining hair out of the semi braid it's still invaded is and Korra groans and opens her eyes.

“Fine, I'm up.” Korra groans but opens her eyes, “What time is it?” 

“Domes open at 6:30, Su wouldn't be looking for us until at least 8 though,”

“Kuvira! Korra!” Su yells again, before either girl can respond a pair of Zaofu guards come over the hill.

“We found them, ma’am, southern garden of the estate, we’ll bring them back to the house.” One says, the other, Hasra, grabs both girl’s shoulders.

“Hey!” Kuvira tries to pull away 

“What's going on?!” Korra pulls her arm away, only for the second guard to grab her again, they lead them towards the main house.

“The Matriarch will explain when we get you back to the house,” the first guard says.

Looking around Kuvira notices there's more guards on duty than she can remember, Kuvira looks towards Korra, who has a frown on her face, which Kuvira is sure matches her own, they both fall silent as they're lead to Su’s office, “Thank Raava you two are alright.” Su smiles, pulling both her charges into quick hugs before dismissing the guards.

“What's going on, Su?” Kuvira asks

“A few members of the Red Lotus have broken out of prison.”

“The Red Lotus? I've only ever heard of the White Lotus.”

“They're terrorists.” Korra spits out before Su can answer, causing both the other people in the room to look towards her, “I heard about them before.” She shrugs.

“She's right, their leaders were captured almost eight years ago after they attempted to kill the Avatar.” Su sighs sitting behind her desk as Kuvira steps between Korra and the door unthinkingly, “Other than the Avatar, we don't know what their goal is, I'd appreciate it if you guys stayed in the house and courtyard unless accompanied by a guard or myself until I'll tell you otherwise.”

“But…” Korra begins

Only to be interrupted by Kuvira, “Yes, Su.” She nods, “I was thinking, Korra's ready to attempt metalbending, if she wants to try that is.” Kuvira turns to look at Korra who shrugs then nods.

“Korra, can you please go wait in the hall? I need to talk to you about something in a moment.” Su asks.

“Yeah, sure, Su.” the avatar nods with a frown

“You sure, Kuv?” Su asks, “You’re starting the dance troupe soon and-”

“I said I wanted to train her, Su, I plan to stand by that.” Kuvira responds quickly

“Okay.” Sun nods, “I’ll bring a few of the meteorites into the courtyard, hopefully these Red Lotus are captured quickly and everything can go back to normal.”

Kuvira nods, “Want me to send Korra in?”

“Please.” Su nods resting her forehead on her hand.

“Su?” Korra asks softly as she enters the room.

“I know you haven't been here very long, but we have a tradition here,” Korra sees here grab a small sheet of metal, before walking around the desk, allowing the metal to almost melt in her hand, “The different metal symbolizes different things in the clan, and usually there'd be more fanfare, and we'd have done this on your twelfth birthday, but with the Red Lotus…” she sighs before hardening the metal into an armband that has the metal clan symbol on it, it's about three inches thick, she hands it to Korra, “Happy early birthday, and welcome to the clan.” Su smiles.

Korra hesitantly slips the cold band on her right arm where her water tribe band usually went, though she had taken it off after the fire to further not look like the Avatar, like Korra, she sometimes wonders if even her parents would recognize her now dressed in earth kingdom green instead of water nation blue, her hair now too short for her wolftails and now the metal, other than her blue eyes and slightly too dark skin, she could pass as an Earth Kingdom native, a Zaofu native, “Are you sure? I've only been here a little over five months.” Korra asks, her mouth feeling dry the more she thinks about it  _ I've lied to her for five months. _

“I'm sure, Korra.” Su nods with a smile, gently grabbing both of Korra's arms and looking at the girl perhaps a few moments too long before there's a knock at the door, “Go have fun, you kids try not to cause too much trouble.”

“Us? Trouble? Wouldn't dream of it.” Korra smiles 

Su lets go of her arms with a small laugh before the frown settles back onto her face, “We'll catch them before anyone knows it, right Korra.” She says walking back to her desk.

“I have complete faith you will.” Korra nods before leaving the room, passing by Baatar Sr as she exits. 

Then walking down the long hall looking for the others, the metal band on her arm quickly heating to her body temperature, she sees a figure lurking ahead in the hallway, “Hey, Aiwei, do you happen to know where Opal or Kuvira are?” She knows Kuvira’s not the man’s biggest fan, but Su says they can trust him, what’s the worst that could happen by asking?

“Ah, yes, Korra, I believe they, and Opal’s brothers are in the family room.” he offers before patting her on the back, she feels a slight shock, but nods her thanks before walking to the room.

“Hey,” Korra smiles at the others, Baatar and Kuvira are playing Pai Sho, Korra can't tell who's , the twins are playing War, though it looks Wing is winning, Opal is on one of the loveseats, reading one of her books and Huan is listening to the radio.

“Hey.” Opal looks up from the book and smiles at Korra.

“You guys put on lockdown too?” 

“Yeah, these Red Lotus have mother really worried.” Baatar responds not looking up as he moves a tile.

“Any idea what they want?” Huan asks looking up at the ceiling.

Korra decidedly ignores the look Kuvira shoots her way, “The Avatar, that’s who they were after last time, right?” Wei bursts out

“But the Avatar seems pretty big to be the only target.” Wing points out

“Well, the Avatar is born with plenty of enemies, I bet you many of them have more than one objective.” Korra responds, sitting down at one end of the table, Kuvira doesn’t look like she likes what Korra said, her shoulders are tensed and hunched, her hand forming a fist then loosening before repeating the action. She moves her tile before standing

“Hey, Ope, can you take over for me for a few moves?” Kuvira asks.

Korra frowns slightly as she watches the older girl walk away, only to sigh and shake her head, grabbing a large book and a blank piece of paper, watching Opal play in Kuvira’s place as she begins to doodle. Feeling a slight headache starting to form.

_ Korra is going to hate me.  _ Kuvira thinks as she walks towards Su’s office,  _ But it’s for her own good _ , “I have to.” she murmurs to herself as she raises her hand to knock

“I don’t know what to do, Baatar.” She hears Su say

“She’s the Avatar, Su, you can just call the White Lotus.” Baatar responds.

“You know that won’t work, she’ll run off again.”

“She’s not your responsibility, well, not just yours.”

“She’s a kid, Baatar, and she does not trust the White Lotus, and quite frankly I’m not sure I do either, they’ve changed since Iroh died.”

“The Avatar is a beacon to Zaofu.” Aiwei’s voice breaks in.

“Without the water tribe attire, the haircut, and now the metal band, she looks just like a Earth Kingdom citizen.” Su responds.

“But she’s not.” the truth seer responds.

Kuvira drops her arm, she knows, Su knows Korra’s the Avatar.


	7. Chapter 7

“Sorry, I'm back.” Kuvira mumbles walking back into the room, as Baatar makes his move.

“You okay, Vira?” Korra asks looking up from the paper in her hand, her hand moving quickly.

“Yeah, Yeah, I’m fine.” she nods not meeting her eyes as Opal jumps up and gives her her spot back. She vaguely sees Korra rub her temples before putting the paper on the table, leaning back onto the couch cushion. And closing her eyes perhaps a bit too long.

“Are _you_ okay, Korra?” Wing asks not looking up from his game with Wei.

“Um, yeah, sorry, bad headache.” Korra responds.

Kuvira looks at her, frowning deeply, “I thought you were fine a little bit ago?” She makes her move keeping an eye on Korra.

“I am, it's just a headache. I'll just go sleep it off.” Korra nods, standing, only to stumble putting her hand on the table to balance herself. Kuvira and Baatar both jump up, the eldest child grabbing her shoulder Kuvira doing the same with her other shoulder.

“Korra, are you okay?” Kuvira repeats, feeling Korra lean further forward as if she can't stand on her own.

“It’s just a headache, I stood up too quick. I’m fine.” Korra mumbles.

Baatar uses his free hand to run his knuckles against Korra’s forehead, “You don’t feel fine.” He murmurs, “Sit down, Korra. Huan, go get mom.” Kuvira and he both push Korra back a bit, making her sit on the couch as Huan leaves the room quickly.

“Hey Ope, can you and the twins go to your rooms while we figure out what’s wrong with Korra here?” Kuvira asks running her own hand against Korra’s forehead, almost pulling back from how warm she is, “We don’t want you getting sick too.” she notes Korra’s hands are shaking, all of her muscles have tensed up, and her skin is pale as a spirit.

“She's sick?” Wei asks.

“We don’t know.” Baatar responds as Korra lies down, the younger kids tentatively leave the room as Huan returns with Su and Baatar Sr. Aiwei following close behind.

“What’s wrong?” Baatar Sr. asks as his wife walks towards the couch.

“Korra started getting a headache and she stood up and all but passed out.” Baatar tells him, “She’s burning up.”  Korra mummbles in protest.

“She was fine an hour ago.” Su says, running her own hand across the girl’s forehead, frowning when sure enough, “She’s warm.”

“‘M fine.” Korra tries to tell the matriarch between gasping breaths.

“How fast did this come on?” Su asks the kids.

“She was fine, then she said she had a headache then everything else happened pretty fast.” Kuvira responds, “Maybe fifteen, twenty minutes.”

“Su, if I may, it looks as though it's just a case of the flu.” Aiwei offers, messing with his ring.

Kuvira opens her mouth to argue, before sighing and closing it. Su must notice cause she responds, “Aiwei is probably right, but if she gets worse, or she's still like this tomorrow morning, we'll call the healer.” She seems to be directing her answer towards Kuvira.

“Let's get her to her room.” Baatar Sr offers motioning his sons and Kuvira away from the couch, carefully picking up the Avatar and carefully angling her out of the room. Su and Aiwei following close behind.

Kuvira grabs the paper Korra had been drawing on  ugh before following the adults with Baatar following closely behind her.

“I'm sure she'll be fine tomorrow.” Kuvira hears Aiwei say patting Korra a couple times on her forearm.

“Aiwei’s probably right, Kuv.” Baatar tells her, she nods, but something in her tells her that this isn't just the flu.

“You kids let Korra sleep, we don't want you guys to get sick too.” Senior tells them.

“I'll get Opal and the twins.” Kuvira mutters, walking towards their rooms before looking towards Baatar and Huan, “Want to play a game, all five of us?” receiving a nod from both of them.

  * ••



Despite Kuvira's best efforts, Su doesn't let her or the others see Korra that night. “It's just a flu, best to let her sleep it off.” Su responded running her hands through her black hair, as she looks over the papers on the Red Lotus escape again.

Kuvira had nodded and left it at that, holding back the feelings in her gut.

She ignores the feeling until after she should be in bed, thinking that it'll eventually go away. But it doesn't, and thus in the early hours of the next morning does she open her bedroom door silently. Moving quickly down the hall, she knocks softly on the door right next to her’s before opening it.

She hears a small groan before a small light is on, illuminating the room in a soft glow, “‘Vira?” A raspy voice asks.  

“Hey,” Kuvira says softly, now that she's face to face with the other girl she's not sure why she was so worried, she sits on the edge of the Avatar's bed, running her hand across the younger girl's forehead, she feels Korra lean further into her hand at the stark difference between their two temperatures, Kuvira tisks softly, “Still pretty bad, huh?” though Korra had gained some color back at least.

Korra nods, “I don't get sick, ‘Vira. I don't know why whatever this is is hitting me so hard.” She turns towards the clock on the wall, attempting to see what time it is.

“It's a little after one.” Kuvira tells her, “Sorry, I probably should've waited till morning but…” she sighs running her hand through her hair.

“Bad feeling?” Korra responds.

“Yeah.” Kuvira sighs, “Stupid, huh?” She gives a small smile.

“Nah, I agree.” Korra sits up with a groan, “But then this could be whatever this is.” She shrugs.

“You're still really warm.” Kuvira whispers, grabbing the cup of water from the bedside table and holding it out to Korra.

“Yeah, nothing much has changed since this morning.” taking a small sip

Kuvira bites her lip, _Should I tell her?_ She wonders before sighing, “Yeah… when you’re feeling better, Korra, I need to talk to you about that.”

“What happened?” Korra asks quickly.

“Nothing that can’t wait.” Kuvira responds measuredly, “Calm down, if it was you _know_ I would tell you.” Korra nods softly, slowly lying back down, “Sorry, I should’ve waited until morning.” she stands running her hand through her hair.

“Everything okay, Kuvira?” Korra asks as the metalbender starts to walk away.

Kuvira pauses, her hand resting on the door knob, turning back to face Korra, forcing a smile that she silently prays to Raava that Korra believes her lie, “Yeah, of course I am. Of course it is.” She walks back to Korra, brushing her bangs away from her face, “I promise. Now,” she sees Korra’s eyes begin to droop, “I’ll let you sleep.”

“Night, ‘Vira.” Korra murmurs as she leaves the room

“What are you doing up, Kuvira?” a voice behind her says.

“Just checking on Korra.” Kuvira sighs, turning to look towards Aiwei, “Shouldn’t you be home?”

“Su called a late meeting.”

_Liar_ Kuvira knows Su had had everyone go home before the domes closed, like she always does, so they don’t have to open the gates and weaken Zaofu more than necessary, especially when she’s so worried about the Red Lotus, “Oh yeah.” she nods, before walking down the hall to the restroom.

When she leaves Aiwei is still lurking in the hall, she frowns, before walking to her room, leaving the door open slightly. Lighting a candle on her desk, before sighing, sitting down, she knows the moment Korra knows that Su is aware of the fact that she is the Avatar, she’ll leave Zaofu, and Kuvira didn’t think anyone could stop her. She already lied to her, what’s a few more days or months, to further prepare the Avatar before she ran off and got herself injured again. However before she can even begin planning, she hears the door next to her room open again.

Frowning she stands, walking out of the room to the hall, seeing Aiwei in Korra’s room, she lets out a gasp, causing the truth seer to turn his attention towards, “Kuvira.”

“What are you doing, Aiwei?” she growls, putting her left foot down attempting to sense where everyone else was, the earth and metal throughout the house was almost continuous. All the others were in bed Baatar wasn’t in the house, so he was probably in his workshop, and Su was pacing in her office.

“I was just checking on young Korra, Kuvira.” he pats her shoulder only to receive a groan from the Avatar, “Suyin asked me to do so.”

Kuvira nods slowly, though still remains tense, not trusting the man, at one in the mourning, Su wouldn’t have sent anyone to check on any of the kids but her and Baatar, mostly because when woken unexpectedly, Kuvira, Korra and the twins all wake fighting, and Opal, Baatar and Huan aren’t much better. As she remains standing in the doorway, Aiwei walks up to her, slinking around  and retreating down the hallway. Hesitantly Kuvira walks towards Korra, looking her over in the soft light from the street lamps, she notices, Korra looks worse than before, any color she had regained, now gone, her hands are shaking softly again, her heartbeat too fast against Kuvira’s hand. “Korra?” she asks softly, only to get a groan in response, frowning, she runs her hands down the Avatar’s arm, “Korra!” she says only just quiet enough not to wake up the others.

Korra opens her eyes slightly, “‘Vir…” she begins, only to be cut off by a cough, after which she can’t seem to catch her breath.

“Hey, Korra.” Kuvira soothes, running her hand over the Avatar’s back, grabbing the cup of water, which Korra grabs and drinks greedily after she catches her breath, “I got you, you’re okay, it’s okay.” she looks at Korra’s shoulder and for a split moment she swears she sees a small drop of crimson, but just as fast as she spots it it seems to disappear.

After a few minute she hears Korra’s breath even out again and sees her eyes close, hoping she’s asleep, Kuvira slowly moves away from the Avatar, if nothing else, she really does need sleep, and Kuvira can’t figure how Aiwei could do anything. She leaves the room, closing the door silently, but instead of returning to her room, she keeps walking til she’s against the wall in the hall, slowly falling against it, resting her head against the metal accent. She checks to see if Aiwei is still in the house, only to frown, The others are still in bed, Baatar Sr. is still not in the house, Su is still pacing and Aiwei is walking down the hall to her office, but instead, he walks past the office and straight to the front door. Kuvira frowns, bringing her knees to her chest, _that fucking liar._ She thinks, “What was he doing then?” she whispers, settling in for the night, there’s no way she’s getting any sleep that night.


	8. Chapter 8

“Try and find the earth in the metal.” Kuvira explains, a meteorite in her hand and one the approximately the same size as her own in Korra’s hand as they stand about a yard apart in the courtyard, the Red Lotus members hadn’t been caught so they were still stuck there, Kuvira bends the metal into a diamond holding it tightly in both hands to show Korra instead of floating above one hand as she typically does.

Korra twists her face in concentration as she holds the meteorite, holding it tight, after several moments, her eyes lighten up, and moments later, the metal shifts between her hand, she pulls it into a diamond, almost perfectly mirroring the shape in Kuvira’s hand, “I did it!” she cheers

“Great job.” Kuvira smiles, though it drops as Aiwei and a guard passes by, the man had not done anything unusual in the week since Korra had gotten over the ‘flu’ but Kuvira knows she’ll never trust him again, despite Su swearing everyone in Zaofu could be trusted because ‘there are no secrets in Zaofu’, Kuvira holds back a laugh, yeah, no one in Zaofu has a fucking secret, not even the truth teller. All Kuvira is sure about is that Korra isn’t as safe as they’d like to believe in Zaofu. Aiwei and the guard leave and she shakes her head before smiling again “Kay, now copy me?” she asks, bending the metal to a star. Korra copies quicker this time. “Good.” Kuvira smiles, turning it to a sphere, “Where are you planning to go after you leave here?” she asks quietly.

“Haven’t thought about it that much, ‘Vira.” Korra sighs, turning it to a sphere, only for Kuvira to switch it to pyramid, “But I guess it’d be Fire Nation or Republic City, Fire’s next in the cycle.” she copies the pyramid.

“Try and copy in thirty seconds, okay?” Kuvira asks changing it to a cylinder

“Yeah. What are you doing once I leave?” Korra responds making the shape.

“You’re a natural.” Kuvira smiles, changing the shape.

“You’re not going to answer?” Korra laughs.

“Eh.” Kuvira shrugs

“Okay, play it that way, I’ll guess.”

“Oh?” Kuvira smirks.

“You aren’t leaving Zaofu.” Korra begins with the easy one, it’s slowly taking less mental energy to bend the metal.

“That’s an easy one.” Kuvira confirms pulling up a new shape, “Zaofu is my home.”

“You want to become Captain of the Guard. And I know that’ll happen.”

That causes Kuvira to stumble a bit, “How do you know that?” she puts the meteorite on the ground, before sitting down beside it.

“Which part?” Korra laughs, making the metal a meteorite once more before sitting down with the space earth on her lap.

“How do you know that’ll happen?”

“You have enough fight in you, Kuvira, I don’t think you won’t get anything you want.” Korra shrugs, “And I know you want to protect Zaofu, like it’s protected you. It’ll take something big to get you to leave here for long.”

Kuvira nods half heartedly, “Want to try the cables? Or a bit more pure metal then this?”

“You seem to be trying to go fast, ‘Vira. Something up?”

“No.” _Lia_ r, “You’re just good enough to keep going.” _I need you out of here and away from Aiwei, but this is too useful for you not to get beyond the basics, plus that’d look suspicious_

“I heard Baatar and Huan talking about some party in a few months, what’s up with that?”

“The fifteenth anniversary of the founding of Zaofu.” Kuvira leans back on her arms, “All of Zaofu is invited, and all the Metal Clan’s allies are going to come, it’s dinner then dancing. It’ll be just over two months from now.”  _ And unless the Red Lotus get caught, I want you out of here and safe by then. _

“Dancing?” she frowns as Kuvira stands and grabs the cables, handing a set to her.

“Yeah,” Kuvira shows Korra how to secure the cables, “Su always says metalbending moves were almost waterbending like,” it’d always reminded her of dancing.

“Yeah.” Korra nods, stepping into a waterbending form spreading her arms and allowing the cables to extend along her arms, using the metal to protect her torso, “Do I have to dance?”

“Su won’t make you,” Kuvira shrugs,  _ Hopefully I don’t have to lie to you then, and you’ll be gone. _

“Let me guess, it’s strongly encouraged?” Korra laughs.

“Oh, yeah, totally.” Kuvira smirks, “So, these cables, are pretty damned useful, for both offence and defence.” she bends the cables like extra arms, grabbing the meteorite and tossing it with the cable, only to catch it with the other cable.

Korra nods, pulling her arms closer, along with the metal, “What if I don’t know how to dance?” 

“You don’t know how to dance, Avatar?” Kuvira laughs.

“Don’t call me that, ‘Vira.” Korra grunts.

“Am I interrupting training?” a new voice says behind them.

“Hey, Baatar.” Korra smiles at the older boy, who has a huge amount of rope thrown over his shoulder.

“I got the rope for Naga.” he motions, letting it drop to the ground.

“Naga!” Kuvira calls, as Korra whistles for her spirit guide. Who comes running, pouncing on Baatar’s shoulders, licking the boy’s face.

“Naga, off.” Korra orders.

“You okay?” Kuvira asks offering the boy a hand up as all three of them holding back a laugh.

“Yeah, Naga just wanted to say hi, huh, girl?” the eldest beifong child nods giving the polar bear dog a pet before turning to Korra, “So you know how to turn this,” he kicks the rope, “Into a harness?”

“Cut it a few places, knot it in others, and it’ll be good to go.” Korra nods.

“Want some help?” he asks.

“That'd be great.” Korra smiles, measuring a length of rope.

Kuvira hands Korra a hunk of metal, “As I get the feeling we’re done for at least awhile, you get to make your own knife.”

Korra rolls her eyes but smiles and takes the metal, first lengthening it, and making it thinner, before sharpening one of edges until it looks plenty sharp to cut the rope, “That good?” she asks twisting it in her hand to show Kuvira.

“Yeah.” Kuvira nods.

“Can you guys pull the rope tight, I need to cut it here.” Korra asks the other two.

“Yeah.” Baatar agrees

“Hey Baatar, what are you doing for the rest of today?” Kuvira asks as Korra cuts the first length of rope.

“Nothing, father is planning something so I’m stuck waiting for a bit.”

“Want to help me?” The metalbender asks as Korra pulls a second length of rope.

“With what?” Korra begins cutting the next next peice

“Teaching Korra how to dance.” Kuvira asks, Korra pulls through the rope in surprised.

“Shit.” she murmurs, dropping the knife and standing, putting her hand on her knee.

“Hey, what happened?” Kuvira asks standing up and walking over to where the avatar is leaning over her knee.

“Pulled too hard.” she moves her hand and shows Kuvira her knee, quickly becoming bloody.

“Shit, Korra, that doesn’t look very good.” Kuvira mutters, “Baatar, can you go get the first aid kit?”

“Of course.” he nods, running into the house. 

Kuvira helps the Avatar to one of the courtyard benches as Naga whines, “I’m fine, Naga.” Korra mutters.

“I’m sorry, I should’ve asked you,” Kuvira frown, carefully rolling up Korra’s baggy pants to check her knee, signing in relief as it’s not quite as bad as it had looked.

“It’s fine, ‘Vira, I was just surprised.”

“Still…” Kuvira sighs as Baatar returns, 

“Here.” he offers, handing the small case to Kuvira, before picking up the metalbent knife. 

“This’ll sting, Korra.” she warns before carefully wiping the blood away and cleaning the cut, getting a small gasp from the water tribe girl, “All done.” she promises, grabbing a couple pieces of gauze before slowly wrapping a bandage around her knee, “There.” she finishes standing up, offering Korra a hand. The Avatar takes it and takes a few limping steps, “I think we’re done for today, we can do this tomorrow.”

“I’m fine, Kuvira, let’s just finish.” Korra responds with a frown.

“Okay,” Kuvira sighs, “No knife for you though, I or Baatar will cut.”

“This is just an accident, it’s fine, ‘Vira”

“You aren’t cutting today.” she responds firmly.

“Okay,” Korra raises her hands in surrender, grabbing the first two strips and knotting them, “I need two more that are about two yards and another one that’s three, then a final one that is about two and a half.” she list off

~~~

“Hey.” a voice says from Korra’s door later that night.

“Hey, Opal.” Korra smiles, “What’s up?”

“Kuv said you hurt your leg today.”

“Yeah,” she motions to her bandaged knee, “But I’m fine, I’m just a  klutz.” she shrugs, “‘Vira’s just a bit of a worry wart.”

“She wanted me to see if you wanted to join us for the radio show tonight.”

“I think I’ll just hang in here tonight.” Korra says softly, grabbing a piece of paper to draw on.

“Okay, I’ll tell her.” she nods.

After a few minutes she hears a new knock at the door, “Up for some company?” Kuvira asks softly, Korra looks up, the metalbender looks exhausted, bags under her eyes are starkly different that the paleness of her skin.

Korra gives her a small smile, “You up for staying awake? You don’t look good, ‘Vira.”

“Well, you sure know how to make a girl feel good.” Kuvira laughs walking into the room and pulling up a chair, settling in, Korra looks over her friend as she rests her head on her hand, and she knows what she’ll draw, taking a pencil and slowly starting.

“Aren’t you going to miss ‘Kuruk and Ummi’.” she doesn’t mean to spit out the name, but the day’s been too long to be polite

“Eh,” Kuvira shrugs, her eyes drooping a bit.

“Hey, Kuvira?” Korra murmers softly

“Hm?”

“You know how they say after Kuruk lost Ummi, he became more monster than human?”

“Yeah.” she opens her eyes with a frown.

“Well, the Avatar, we’re not fully human, but not fully spirit either, we’re some hybrid in between. And it’s not hard to see there may be a point where I get to that, more monster than human.” the younger girl explains softly.

“Hey, what are you talking about, Korra? You’re too good of person, that won’t happen.” the metalbender is suddenly almost fully awake

“But if it does, ‘Vira, I want you to do everything in your power to stop me, including killing me if nessisary, please.” she puts the pencile down, looking Kuvira in the eyes.

“What brought this on?” Kuvira demands.

“I’ve been getting flashes from my past lives, mostly Aang, Roku and Kyoshi, but some of them are from Kuruk, and it feels like it’s after Koh took Ummi, and that’s not… that’s not who, what the Avatar is supposed to be, and I’m not going to let it be that again if I can help it.”

“Okay, fine.” the fourteen year old nods, shifting her shoulders under the weight of what she’s agreeing to, “I’ll do everything in my power to stop you. I promise.”

“Thank you, so much.” Korra smiles softly, “I’ll let you sleep.”

“I don’t need sleep, Korra. However you probably will, tomorrow, I’m teaching you to dance, and Junior is gonna help.”

“I can’t dance, ‘Vira.” Korra responds, continuing her drawing.

“Well, trust me, I can teach you.” Kuvira says with a soft smile, her eyes mostly closed.

“We’ll see.” Korra hums a soft lullaby as she continues drawing, watching as the other girl’s breath even. Several minutes later, she has mostly finished her drawing, a sleeping subject is always easier to draw than an awake one, though she’s unsure if she has Kuvira’s bright eyes right. Instead of attempting to fix the green eyes she puts the paper to the side. She debates meditating for several minutes, until she figures she won’t be able to stand back up with her knee, and there can’t be anything that bad in her past live’s visions that she can’t get through, she turns off the light and closes her own eyes. 


	9. Chapter 9

“Would you stay still?” Kuvira laughs attempting to put makeup on Korra, “I don't want to poke you in the eye.”

“I don't have a good feeling about tonight, Vira.” Korra sighs but stops moving.

“It'll be fine, you don't have to do anything you don't want to, but you know how to dance and,” she stands grabbing something behind the Avatar and carefully places it around her neck, allowing the metal dress to drop over the dark green dress, then takes a bit of metal and bends it into a flower, putting it behind the younger girl's ear “You look beautiful.” She smiles, “What do you think?” She asks brushing a stray hair behind Korra’s ear.

“It's good.” She nods, “Sorry, you're right, it'll be fine, I’m just a little caught up in my head.” Biting her lip.

Kuvira smiles at Korra, slowly putting her braid up into a bun, looking in the mirror with her own green dress, A true Zaofu Native. Su had described her as the first time she had dressed up for one of these things. She still doesn't know if that makes her proud or insulted, “I don't think anyone but Su and Huan actually like these parties, honestly. But you get to see world leaders act like fools… may come in handy one day.”

“Oh yeah, ‘I, The Avatar, met you but once, do you know you told me something vital to national security when I was twelve and you were drunk.’ I'm sure that would get everyone to just get along.” Korra smiles with a small laugh.

“Don't knock it til you try it. I'd probably listen.” Kuvira smirks before her eyes fall on several pieces of paper on Korra's bedside table, “What's this?” She asks pointing to the maybe two dozen papers.

Korra looks over to her, then to the papers, picking them up and handing them to Kuvira, “Just some drawings, you know I draw.”

Kuvira looks over the top picture, and sees herself smirking and looking just off to the side, the next is Su in her study, her head resting on her hand as she writes something, the third, Opal reading in the family room, a few more are various buildings on the estate and Zaofu, most were of people, a couple of the guards and staff but most of the family, several of her or Baatar Jr. another few of Opal, one of the twins.

Then there were the last few, a woman who Kuvira didn't recognize, but she had Korra’s eyes, another looks like a woman that she swears she's seen in a few pictures of Su’s, both were clearly waterbending. But then there's one that gives her pause, it's another one of her with Baatar Jr. In the background, but this one is much different, it's one of the few fully in color, she’s older, she's in a uniform, but it's not one she's ever seen, her expression though is what gives her pause the other drawings, she was smiling and her eyes had a warm spark in them, in this one, the only way to describe her expression in this one is cold, “These are really good, Korra.” She resolves to ask about the last picture later, maybe tomorrow.

Korra gives a small smile, “Thank you, ‘Vira.”

There's a knock at the door, “Girls?” Baatar Sr asks, “Ready to go?”

“Yes.” Kuvira responds, grabbing Korra's wrist, “Ready?”

“I guess.” Korra shrugs before rolling her shoulders back and taking a deep breath, it'll be fine, Avatar she calms herself as they walk to the great room to meet with the others. She notes that Opal has a book hanging at her side. In the past ten months since she left the South Pole and came to Zaofu she can count on one hand the number of times she's seen the girl without a book in hand.

“You two look lovely.”

“Thank you, Su.” Korra smiles.

“Thanks.” Kuvira nods.

“Shall we go?” Baatar Sr asks putting his hand on the small of his wife's back.

“Yes.” Su nods.

Wing takes Baatar Jr. Hand and Wei takes Kuvira’s, then to Korra's surprise, Opal softly takes hers, looking up at the Avatar who smiles softly at her squeezing gently.

•••

“Suyin Beifong and family.” Korra hears as they enter the large conference hall in Zaofu’s republic city.

She smiles as Opal and the twins wave, it seems everyone in the room is watching them, no, Su, and the other kids, they want to know who's going to run Zaofu eventually, no one knows she's the Avatar and thus she's invisible.

She looks around the room, much more elegantly decorated than usual, there are about a dozen large round tables to one side of the room, each having a vase of Fire Lilies, which is where the kids are lead by Baatar to one, as Su is accosted by someone who looks to be from Omashu.

“Okay,” he smiles as the settle into seats, “You guys know the rules.”

“No creating an international incident. Nor an intranational one.” Baatar Jr. states with a smile as he helps Wing into his chair, “We won't father.”

“Okay.” He nods, “I need to go talk to some people, you guys will be okay?”

“Yeah, dad.” Huan nods agreement rings between all the others.

He nods before standing and walking over to a man from the Fire Nation. Talking softly over the band, “May I have this dance, Kuvira?” Baatar asks with a smile.

“I'd love to.” She nods after looking over the others and seeing that it looks like no one is going to do anything too crazy and the others have the twins under control. The eldest Beifong leads Kuvira to the dance floor as the song ends and the next one strikes up, Korra watches as her friend allow Baatar to lead for once.

“Korra?” Huan begins, “I'm going to go take the twins to get food, you and Opal good here?”

“I'm fine, what about you, Ope?”

“I'm good.” The quiet girl nods looking around the room before opening her book. Korra nods as Huan motions both the twins to follow him slowly weaving their way through the crowd. “You're leaving soon, huh, Korra?” Opal asks not looking up from the book.

Korra is shocked, she turns to Opal with a frown, “What do you mean, Opal?” She feigns ignorance.

Pale green eyes meet deep blue, “You're planning on leaving Zaofu soon.” Opal frowns, “You weren't ever planning on staying, were you, I'm not sure you were even planning on staying this long. But I'm the few months, Kuvira's been on edge, Mom's been keeping a watchful eye on you and you've been really jumpy. Tonight Kuvira, dad and mom are watching you and the door, Kuvira looks resigned and mom looks worried.”

After several moments, Korra nods, “Yes, I am Ope.”

“You can stay.” The ten year old frowns, “Mom and dad like you, they'd be fine with it, Kuvira would be thrilled, so would the rest of us. Zaofu could be your home.”

“It's complicated, Opal. I have a thing, a responsibility… a duty, that I need to do, and as much as I would love to stay here, I can't do it here anymore than I could do it when I was down at the South Pole.” Korra sighs.

“Did you do something wrong?” She asks unsure what the girl is trying to explain

“A little bit.” Korra nods, though that's not why she has to leave.

“Mom says Zaofu is built on second chances and new beginnings, she messed up pretty bad when she was about Baatar’s age, Kuvira messed up and that's why she lives here, Chef and Aiwei did too, you don't have to leave just because you messed up.”

Korra frowns at the mention of Kuvira messing up to be here, she didn't mess up, her dad did, and messing up is too kind of term, but instead just shakes her head, that's probably how Kuvira or maybe even Su described it to the other girl, it's not her place to challenge it and that's not what this conversation is about, “I made… well I don't know if it's big, or even a mistake, but I know lots of people will see it as a gigantic mistake, and I need to leave so I can fix it.”

“Are you gonna go back home? To the South Pole?”

“No,” Korra begins before a woman in red runs into Opals chair, causing the younger girl to let out an oomph as she runs her chest into the table, “Are you okay?” Korra asks quickly.

“Yeah.” Opal nods rubbing her chest frowning at the woman who is now talking to a man also wearing red. Korra notices her eyes look shiny.

Korra looks around with a frown, Su is talking to Aiwei, Huan and the twins seem to be on their way back to the table, Kuvira and Baatar are almost all away across the room, she doesn't see Baatar Senior, then her eyes return to the “I'll be right back, okay, Opal?” She asks planning to confront the woman, she doesn't wait for the younger girl's response before she stands and starts walking towards the woman.

Before she's there, both the man and woman turn towards Korra, then she feels a hand resting on her shoulder, “Don't move, Avatar.” A voice behind her says

“Let me go.” She growls as she pulls herself away and turns around to see another man, this one in blue, however he has bronze eyes.

“We can't do that, Avatar.” The woman in red says, a dangerous look passes through her blue eyes, as she and the two men circle her. Korra looks around again, this time desperately, Aiwei is still holding Su’s attention, Kuvira and Baatar are closer now, but not close enough, Senior has now made a reappearance, she attempts to catch his eyes but she can't, okay, there's no way there wouldn't be any guards around, but she can't spot any of them.

The man in red grabs her arm, “Now, let's go for a walk, Avatar Korra.” He smiles looking to the other two, “This was too easy, we should level this place while we're here.”

“No, Haruki, a few tyrants dead I'd not worth all the others.” The woman responds.

“As nice as this is, I really got to go.” Korra responds pulling out of the man’s grip, running back towards the tables, though not the one where Opal was, sparring the table a half glance, she sees Huan and the twins had returned to, Opal was pointing Huan in her direction, who nods and starts walking over to her, before she gets a chance to motion him to go literally anywhere else the two men come back into her view.

“I hand hoped we could do this calmly, Avatar.” The man in blue says with a frown.

“So sorry to disappoint.” Korra responds, shifting into a bending stance.

“Oh, the little Avatar wants to fight.” The woman cackles from behind her.

They stay frozen like that for several moment, the man in blue acts first, shooting a stream of fire in her direction, she rolls out of the way, the woman acts almost instantly, pulling water out of vases and a few cups, she bends a water jet at the Avatar, Korra decides to stand her ground, splitting the beam down the middle, bending it quickly to a ring around her body, using it to block the firebender’s next attack, the woman's second attack on the other hand she bends her metal armband to her hand as a punching glove using that hand to break the ice bullets. She blasts the two men into a wall, using the water to freeze them there, and before she or the woman can do anything else, two sets of metal cables catch both the woman's arm, she follows them to confirm they're Zaofu guards at the other end.

Looking around she sees everyone watching her. The table behind her is burning and the wall has a burn mark, there's water and ice everywhere. She feels a stinging sensation on her face and arm, and her leg hurts too. She looks down and sees blood from several scratches on her arm trailing down to her fingertips. The entire hall remains silent, she looks up again, this time meeting Su’s eyes, seeing shock, anger, and worry, in the Matriarch’s face, “I'm sorry,” she says as everyone starts whispering, she turns looking towards Huan, only a handful of steps away from her, frozen in place, “I'm sorry,” she repeats feeling tears well up in her eyes, she attempts to turn towards the door, only to meet Baatar Jr.’s and Kuvira's eyes, both mouths half open and Baatar keeps his out strestched hand on Kuvira's wrist, “I'm sorry.” She says once more, before she slowly feels feeling return to her legs and spots the door, feeling tears start to fall, she runs out of the hall, to the main exit, to the estate to get Naga and the few things she brought. She needs to leave Zaofu. Tonight.

 


	10. Chapter 10

“Did you know?” Kuvira vaguely hears Baatar ask as she tries to pull her arm out of his grip.

“That she was the Avatar? Yes, Baatar, I knew Korra was the Avatar, and that the Red Lotus was after her.” She turns to look at the eldest Beifong child, pulling at her arm, “Please, let me go, Baatar, I'll be back I just- I need to talk to her.”

He let's go of her wrist, “Go.” He nods to the door.

It doesn't take more than that for Kuvira to bolt out of there. She hopes she's right when she runs back to the estate, running to the bedrooms, past both the twin’s rooms to Korra's room, she knocks before opening it, sure enough Korra’s in the room pacing back and forth, “Korra.” She sighs stepping into the room and closing the door.

“I'm sorry, ‘Vira.” Korra sighs wiping at her eyes, her face is bloody and she has tear tracks down her cheeks.

“Hey,” Kuvira sighs, taking a step towards the Avatar, “Take a deep breath, let's get you cleaned up.”

“I have to go, Kuvira. I have to, please.” Her lips stained red with her own blood mutter repeatedly.

“You're covered in blood, we're getting you cleaned up. Then we'll figure out what to do next, okay?” Kuvira gives her no other option as she leads her to the bathroom. “You know this may sting, let me know if it starts hurting too bad.” She takes a wet towel, carefully cleaning a deep cut about her right eye, “Hold this to stop the bleeding.” She hands it to the Avatar, using another towel for her cheek, she tisks, “That ice was sharp.” She frowns.

“I thought I had blocked most of them.” The Avatar shrugs, the nonchalant attitude broken with a wince as Kuvira runs the rag over the cut again

“I'd say you did pretty good.” Kuvira smiles encouragingly before it slowly turns to a frown, “Sorry I didn't help.”

“I- you… they wanted me, ‘Vira. You didn't need to help.”

“I still should've, you're my friend. You would've helped me.”

“You aren't at fault, Kuvira, it's thought Red Lotus thugs that should be apologizing.” Korra spits out.

Kuvira gently grabs Korra's hand, cleaning the four deep cuts from the man’s nails with her right. Even after the Avatar's arm is wrapped up, she doesn't let go of Korra's hand, she bends the metal glove off Korra's other hand, turning it back to an arm band, handing it back to Korra, the younger girl doesn't take it, “I don't suppose I can convince you that you can stay?”

“Please, Vira, don't try and stop me, cause if you do…” I may just listen, “I have to go, I can’t… I can’t go back to that compound, Kuvira.”

“Su won’t send you back.” Kuvira shakes her head, “She won’t send you back if you don’t want to.” she bites her lip debating telling Korra what she’s been keeping for four months

“Kuvira-”

“She already knew!” Kuvira exclaims, running her hand through her hair, watching as Korra’s eyes widen before dropping to look at their joined hands, Kuvira follows suit, “She’s known at least four months, at least since when the Red Lotus guys first escaped and you got sick. That's why she heightened security so much when they escaped.”

Korra pulls away, “You told her.” she frowns quickly standing and taking a couple steps away from Kuvira, her eyes widening in betrayal.

“No.” Kuvira jumps to a standing position, “I would never, and if I had, I would’ve given you a heads up. I wouldn’t… I promised you.” Her hand flies from above her chest flinging it to her side in denial, as she tries to explain. “I didn't tell her.” I only once thought of telling her, and it was when I thought you were in danger, like you were tonight, “I wouldn't have done that.”

“You- you're right.” Korra sighs, running her hand through her hair, “I'm sorry, ‘Vira.” She murmurs closing her eyes and resting her head against the cool metal of the wall.

“It's fine.” Kuvira nods, leaning against the counter opposite of Korra, “What’re you thinking, Korra.” She asks after several minutes.

The Avatar pushes herself off the wall before she continues walking towards the door, “Even if she's known since day one, if I just did that in front of just Su or Baatar or Opal or the twins, Raava, even the guards, that'd be one thing. But everyone there saw me water and metalbend, there's no other way to take that but that I'm the Avatar, the White Lotus will be here within the week if they're having a busy week. And the Red Lotus or whoever those people were, they knew I would be here, and if they can, others… others can too and they may not be so direct, you or one of the others could get hurt just being at the wrong place at the wrong time. You could get hurt by just being near me and then I would never forgive myself.”

“Korra, what if those weren't the Red Lotus, do you expect me to just sit here and let you go out where you could be killed-” The elder girl demands, stepping in front of the Avatar, using her arm to block her path.

“They got into Zaofu.” Kuvira sees a small flash of that night with Aiwei, the metalbender soghs, Korra's right, “They could get me anywhere. I was planning on leaving in a couple months anyway, now I know I have to. Please, I have to go, ‘Vira. Stop trying to stop me. I can't go back, and I can't stay. Don't stop me.” She gently pushes her friend's arm down and walks past her.  
  
Kuvira sighs again but nods, following the Avatar to her room, “Do you know where you're heading?” She asks leaning against the door as Korra looks around the room for a few other things.

“Tonight I need to get out of Zaofu, tomorrow, I'll figure out the rest.”

“That makes me feel better.” Kuvira quips.

“If I don't do this now, I'll never leave.” Korra responds looking around the room.

“I'll go with you.” She offers

“Kuvira…”

“Aang traveled with his friends, Master Katara, Firelord Zuko, Toph, they all went with him and helped him, I could go with you.” She takes a step into the room with a hopeful smile.

“Kuvira…” Korra repeats, closing her eyes and shaking her head, “No.”

“Korra. I could. I-” she looks into the Avatar's eyes, green desperately begging blue to let her.

“Need to stay here in Zaofu, ‘Vira.” Korra takes a step towards the older girl who's arms are crossed tightly across her body eyes now looking determinedly at the floor, Korra gently places her uninjured hand on the older girl's shoulder, using her bandaged hand to tilt Kuvira's chin up, “You need to stay and become Captain of the Guard, or whatever you set your mind to, and I need to go become the Avatar the world needs, deserves.

Kuvira nods hesitantly, “Careful, you're sounding awfully Avatar-y for only being through two elements.” She teases with a faint smile.

“Hey, two going on three before I'm thirteen, I think I'm doing okay.” Korra laughs, causing Kuvira to let out a small one too.

“Stay here.” Kuvira orders as she steps away from the Avatar.

“‘Vira…”

“No not Zaofu, this room, just give me a minute, please.”

“Five minutes.” Korra agrees, “I really should leave before the others get…”

“Su and Baatar Sr. will be doing damage control probably, you'll be out of here quick.” Kuvira nods, pushing back the feeling that moves from the pit of her stomach up to the back of her throat as she runs to her room next door.

Looking around quickly and grabbing the mostly packed bag from under her desk, before grabbing the other few items she had for it and throwing them in, not everything she had wanted in there but more than what Korra wanted to leave with before bending it closed. Throwing it over one shoulder she returns to the other room. “If you're leaving, take this, it should tie fine to Naga’s harness.” She hands the Avatar her old gym bag, “And it can only be opened and closed through metalbending, so shouldn't open on Naga, or when you don't want it to.”

“What's it in, ‘Vira?” Korra asks lifting the bag onto the bed behind her.

“Maps, clothes, some money, water, food, few other things, won't last you long, but it'll get you where you need to.” Kuvira explains, as Korra opens it, “I had been planning to put a few more things in but…”

“I can't take this, Kuvi-”

“You can and you will or I will not let you leave.” Kuvira responds.

“You won't let me?” Korra questions.

“You don't think I can fight you long enough for the others to get here?” The older girl questions.

“Kuvira…” she sighs.

“And take this.” She gives Korra the armband back, then slips off her own, “Metalbending is getting more common, but it's still fairly uncommon, use that to your advantage. If someone attacks you, het creative, and keep practicing, you're good, but I know you can be great.” She brushes a few stray hairs out of her eyes, “I don't need to tell you to play firebender, Fire Nation or Republic City, which ever one you go to, please try and blend in.”

Korra nods before smiling, “You're such a softy, ‘Vira.”

“What, me? Don't use such slander, Avatar.” Kuvira smiles, pulling her friend into a hug, “If and when possible let me know you're safe.” She murmurs into Korra's hair.

“I will, and after I master Fire, I'll have to come out as the Avatar, then if I can, I'll come visit.” Korra promises. Before stepping back and bowing, “Thank you, Stifu Kuvira.”

“Good luck, Avatar Korra.” Kuvira bows back.

Korra throws her water tribe armbands and a few other things into the bag before slinging it over her shoulder, “You should go back to the celebration, I'll be gone before you guys get back.” Korra says almost silently as they get to the main door before calling for Naga.

Kuvira doesn't respond until after the great polar bear dog gets there, “Hey girl,” she murmurs as Korra ties the bag to the back of her spirit guide, “Take care of her, kay?” She asks fighting back tears, giving Naga a pet, only to get licked in response. Taking that as an agreement, she nods, thinking of all she could say to the Avatar, but instead, lifts her heavy feet and walks back to the Zaofu civic center.

•••••

“Hey,” she hears Baatar Jr. asks as she reenters the hall, almost everyone looks like it did before they were interrupted by the attack, “Are you- is everything… are you okay, Kuv?” He asks resting his hand on her upper arm.

“Don't know, ask me again later.” She responds.

“Come on.” The fifteen year old murmurs motioning to a mostly abandoned corner, “What happened?”

“She's leaving.” Cause that's what the last ninety minutes boiled down to, despite all the going around in circles, Korra was leaving, and Kuvira was losing the one person who isn't her friend out of pity, who doesn't care about her past. She knows damn well she's being selfish, the world needs it's Avatar, but what about those who just need Korra.

“I'm sorry, Kuv.” Baatar murmurs, pulling her into a hug.

“She'll be gone by the time this is all over.” Kuvira murmurs into his chest.

“Mother’s gonna go talk to her, maybe…”

“Su won't be able to do anything, she's set on this.”

Baatar just hummed in response not letting go of the metalbender, and Kuvira is content to just stay there, allowing him to hold her together for just a little longer.

•••••

Korra waits for Kuvira to be well out of sight to start mounting Naga, she hears footsteps behind her, she drops to the ground, earthbendingoe a couple boulders towards the noise as she turns on her heal. Looking towards the noise she sees a figure, “Who's there?” She demands, wiping at her cheeks to get rid of the tears that had fallen before creating a small flame on her hand.

“It's just me, Korra.” A voice says softly before Su is visible in the fire’s light ring.

“Su,” Korra mumbles unconsciously taking a small step closer to Naga, “I-I'm sorry, I should've told you… I shouldn't have done that tonight.”

“Korra, it's fine.” The metal clan matriarch attempts to calm the young Avatar taking another step towards her before looking behind the Avatar, seeing the Avatar's spirit guide packed, “You don't have to leave, Korra.” She murmurs softly.

“I- I the White Lotus, I can't go back to that compound.”

“Compound?” Su questions before shaking her head, “Korra, we won't send you back to the White Lotus if you don't think you should go.”

“There were two hundred people there, there's no way that they won't find out.”

“Korra, come on, Honey, trust me, I'll make sure they don't tell the White Lotus.”

“You already lied to them, and I'm the reason those people came and put everyone in danger. I don't want to cause you anymore trouble.” Korra shakes her head, grabbing Naga’s harness to pull herself up.

Su places a gental hand on her shoulder “Korra, I knew you were the Avatar since you came here, I don't think you're trouble.”

“What if someone was hurt tonight cause I didn't just go with them. I need to keep going. I don't want people to be hurt because I can't do enough.” Korra doesn't know when the tears started cascading down her face but she can't make them stop falling or her hands from shaking, “I really messed up.” _Running away 10 months ago, the fight tonight, running away now, I'm the worst Avatar ever._

“Honey,” Su sighs pulling the Avatar into a hug, which the young Avatar leans into for a moment, murmuring apologies into the metalbender’s dress robes before shaking her head and pulling back.

“I- I have to go.” Korra repeats, “I have to go so I can be the Avatar.”

Su frowns but nods, “If you ever need help, Avatar Korra, the Metal Clan and Zaofu will always be willing to help you.” She looks at Korra in the Zaofu streetlights, brushing the Avatar’s bangs away from her blue eyes, “I'm sure you will be an amazing Avatar, and will make us all proud.” She smiles softly.

“I'll certainly do my best.” The Avatar nods before pulling herself onto Naga with a sad smile.

“I'll have the guards open the Southern Gate for you, you should be able to get to Heibai’s forest before it gets too late, it should be on the map Kuvira gave you. I'm sure you can get where you need to after that.”

“How did you-?”

“I make it my business to know what's going on in my city, do you really think she can keep a secret in my own home?” Su laughs, “Now go, we'll try and give you as long as possible before the White Lotus come looking for you.”

“Thank you so much for everything, Su. Tell the others I'm sorry and goodbye.” The Avatar gives a soft smile, “Let's go, Naga.” She asks pulling her reigns towards the South, where to after that, she doesn't know.


	11. Chapter 11

“Good girl, Naga.” Korra pats the polar bear dog’s neck as they come to a forest, “I think this is it.” She murmurs as they slow to a walk, “Let me check.” She slips off her spirit guide, pulling the bag off, opening it and attempting to find the map in the nearly full moon light, after several minutes she shakes her head, “Even if it's not, let's just stay here tonight, sound good, girl?” She asks not being able to see much with the thick forest trees over head, despite the lack of leaves.

Naga seems to agree as she lies down by one of the trees. Korra closes the bag before curling into Naga’s side.

She's woken several hours by light in her eyes, up and at em, Korra a ghost of a voice says, “Ugg… ‘Vira, mornings are ev-” she cuts herself off as she opens her eyes and sees tree branches as her ceiling and remembers the night before, “oh, yeah…” she sighs before shaking her head, Naga looks up at her, “Morning girl.” She sighs grabbing the bag from it's spot beside her, “Let's see where we are, huh?” She asks opening it. The metal from her necklace rattles as she looks through the bags, the multitude of maps is much easier to find folded against the wall of the bag, she opens the paper onto the forest floor before looking around.

A bright red X is in the southeastern portion of the Earth Kingdom. “That'd be Zaofu.” She motions to the X, “The forest is about 70, 75 miles away. I'd say we're there.” She nods, “So, where to next?” She sighs looking over the map, “United Republic or Fire Nation?” She sighs, “I'd blend in more in Republic City.” She runs her hand through her hair, only for it to catch on the metal flower from the night before, she pulls it out, letting her hair fall in her face as she looks at it before shaking her head and putting it carefully in the bag, “You'd be easier to hide in the Fire Nation though. What do you think, Naga?” She asks looking towards her spirit guide who lifts her ears before dropping her head back to the ground, “Thanks for the help.” She laughs before looking up into the forest as she folds up the map, putting it back in the bag.

Suddenly she sees a figure further into the woods, “Hello? Who's there?” She demands, standing to get a better look, closing the bag and throwing it over her shoulder, “Naga, let's go.” She says as the polar bear dog lumbers to a standing position her owner pulling herself on. “Let's go see who that is.” She motions her guide forward, deeper into the woods.

•••••

There's a knock at the door, Kuvira sits up rubbing her neck. She'd fallen asleep at the desk in her room after the ‘celebration’ the night before, there's another knock “Come in.” She groans.

“Kuvy?” A soft voice says as the door opens to reveal Opal.

“Hey, Ope.” She forces a smile as she turns towards the young nonbender.

“Korra's gone?”

“Yeah.” Kuvira nods, “She left last night, during the party, remember?”

“Yeah.” Opal nods, “When's she coming back?”

“I-” Kuvira pauses, soon I hope, though never is a possibility, any where between those two is feasible as well, “I'm not sure, Opal.” She sighs.

“Oh.” The younger girl frowns.

“She's the Avatar, Opal. That means she has to go learn firebending so she can help people.” She reminds herself more than the younger girl, “And she can't do that here,” She sighs.

Opal nods, “Wanna come play a game with me and Huan.”

“What about the others?” She asks leaning back in the chair.

“The twins are training with Mom, and Junior is doing something with Dad,”

Life goes on.

“Sure,” she nods, “I'll play something quick, but after lunch I'm going to train.”

“Train?”

“Gotta keep up practicing.” She only says with a smile as she stands, an idea forming in her mind.

•••••

The glowing figure pops up a few more times as Korra urges Naga foreword. After several hours however they are no closer. Then the trees start to thin, “Careful, girl.” Korra calls as they come upon a cliff, looking out at the ocean, looking to the horizon, only to see the figure again, “A spirit.” She whispers, “Let's find a way down.” She tells Naga, getting off her and walking along the side of the cliff, until she finds a place they can get down, the metal necklace clangs with each step she takes closer to the beach, the figure remains on the horizon as she walks towards the ocean. She freezes a section of the water, “Come on, Naga.” She orders waterbending the ice away from the shore before her companion jumps on.

She's unsure how long she bends the chunk of ice towards the horizon, making minor corrections to keep towards the spirit. The wind picks up quickly as the day goes on, Korra doesn't mind as she can see an island on the horizon, ‘three miles from you to the horizon on the water and the tundra.’ Kya had told her more than once as they had passed water between them.

The wind begins picking up fast and brings a storm with it, “Fuck.” She murmurs, starting to feel exhausted as the rain starts and the wind starts throwing her off course, she vaugly hears Naga whine as she attempts to force them over a wave, Korra gives off a small grin as they get over it, “We’ll be fine, Na-” a wave hits from her left, “Gah!” The Avatar yells as she's thrown off the sheet of ice, slamming her head on it before falling into the ocean, her eyes closed.

•••••

As night fell over Zaofu, Kuvira starts her plan, leaving a single piece of folded paper on her desk as she silently exits her room with a small bag. She walks to the garage, grabbing one of the satocycles they used to get around the domes quickly,a full tank should be able to catch her up with Korra if she takes the right path, “Kuvira?” A voice behind her asks, turning quickly she sees it Aiwei, “A little late for one so younger to still be up.”

“Couldn't sleep.” She doesn't have to lie, she was too nervous about this working to sleep, leaning against the cycle, “Thought I'd see if Baatar was still up.”

“He’s not, he and Junior finished up about twenty minutes ago.” Aiwei answers not calling her on the obvious lie, “I believe Suyin is still awake in her study if you wish?”

“No.” Kuvira's answer comes too quickly, “No,” she repeats, “I'll just go for a quick walk to clear my mind.”

The truthseer hums and nods slowly, squinting his eyes before walking out of the doorway. Kuvira let's out a small sigh before grabbing the cycle’s handles and rolling it out of the back door. She plans to spend the night up on Kyoshi ridge and take off as soon as the domes open in three hours, with the plan in mind she quietly starts towards the path.

When she gets to the top of the ridge she walks the the patch that was burnt all those months ago, still bare and pushes the cycle against one of the trees before setting the bag down beside it. She the takes a couple steps away before lying down, falling into a light sleep.

•••••

Naga licks her master’s face with a whine, “Ugg,” She groans pushing herself up with one hand, coughing. Her fingers dig into the black sand as the coughs wrack her body, her lungs expelling what feels like gallons of saltwater, vomiting what little she still had in her body up as she continues to cough, unable to get a breath in between many of the coughs. Even after the coughs stop she remains on her hands and knees, breathing heavily until she feels Naga nudge her, “Good girl, thank you Naga, you saved me.” She mumbles petting her spirit guide, using the animal to lean on as she stands, feeling horrible everywhere, “Where are we?” She murmurs to herself, looking around the island.

“A small Fire Nation island, probably wouldn't be on your map.” An elderly voice behind her says, “Now, who are you, and what are you doing on my island?” The elderly woman asks as Korra turns to face her, only to freeze, the woman has grey hair, though Korra knows it had once been her black, and her eyes, just as in the pictures she had seen, were golden.

“Azula.” She whispers stumbling backwards into Naga.

•••••

It's not the sun that wakes Kuvira, instead a hand on her shoulder, she opens her eyes to meet Su’s frowning face, a paper hanging limp in her other hand, “Kuvira?”

“Su?” Kuvira questions, quickly jumping to her feet as she slowly remembered where she was and her plan, she looks to the tree to see the cycle and bag gone.

“Come on, sweetheart, let's go talk.” The Metal Clan matriarch says putting a hand on Kuvira's shoulder as she gently leads the teen to the path back to the main estate. Kuvira figures this wasn't a suggestion and follows without argument.

When they get back to the house, Su leads the girl to her study, motioning her to sit on one of the couches as she hits the radio button, “We found her, Baatar.”

“Thank Raava.” She hears the response from the other end, “Do you want me to-”

“I'll be fine, darling, I'll talk to her.” Su responds.

“Sounds good, dear.” The radio responds as Su turns her attention to Kuvira.

“Su, let me explain-” Kuvira begins only for Su to raise her hand to stop her.

“You were planning on following Korra?”

“Yes.” She nods stopping herself from looking to the ground, forcing herself to keep Su’s gaze.

Su sighs but nods, “You know, we've never actually found how old you are, Kuvira. Me and Baatar looked into to records from all over the Earth Kingdom but we never found anything about you from before that day Baatar found you.” This is it, she's found your father and is sending you back to him. You really fucked up this time, Kuvira. No, I won't go back, I'll run, find Korra, Raava, I'll go to another city and hide there, I won't go back to him ever. She thinks forcing her breath to remain calm as she listens to Su speak, “So as you know, we guessed your age, plus or minus a year, and had you pick a date for your birthday and that was that.”

Kuvira nods, not sure where Su was going with this nor trusting herself to keep the calm facadé she's clinging to if she opens her mouth.

“Now, that plus or minus part is the part that makes me wonder, as far as we know, you could be fifteen or even sixteen years old at this point.”

“Su?”

“I want you to give Korra six months to write you, that'll be a couple months after you turn 15. If she hasn't at that point, or you still feel you want to, or have to join her, I won't stop you.” Su grabs a piece of paper from her desk, “Otherwise a year after that point, I know you wanted to join the Zaofu Guard, if that's still what you want to do, I'll allow you to sign this, with mine and Baatar's blessing.” She hands the paper to Kuvira, it's a contract to join the Zaofu Guard, “Now don't take this as any of us trying to force you out of the house, you're welcome to stay and you don't have just those two options, I had actually intended to talk to you about this earlier, but after everything that's gone on the last few days…” Su trails off as Kuvira hugs her, her shoulders shaking.

“I- I thought… thank you.” She whispers not sure how to explain what she thought. 6 months wasn't that bad, Korra would send her something by then.


	12. Chapter 12

“I see my reputation precedes me. What's your name?” The woman smirks.

“Korra. My name is Korra.” Korra states, removing the metal necklace, keeping her eye on the former Fire Nation princess.

“Well, Korra, what are you doing on my island?” She repeats, her eyes almost like slits.

“I was following a spirit.” She explains honestly, “I got caught up in a storm and Naga here brought me here after I was knocked off my… knocked out.”

“What business does a child have with the spirits?” Azula cackles

“I-” Korra cuts herself off, “I just, it kept appearing to me, I figured best to follow it.” she shrugs.

“And what were you looking for that a spirit or polar bear dog or whatever saw fit to bring you to my island to find it?”

“I’m looking for someone to teach me how to firebend.” Korra admits.

“You're a bit old to only just now begin training, by the time I was your age, I was bending cold-blooded fire, yet here you are.”

“My parents wouldn't let me learn, I only recently left.”

“The Metal Clan wouldn't be the place to find one.”

That causes Korra to pause, until she remembers she's still dressed up from last night, she looks like she's from Zaofu, the only problem is the blue eyes and slightly too dark skin. “I'm from the South Pole, I stayed in Zaofu for awhile, but-”

“Did I ask for you life story, Korra.” She asks circling her like a lion leopard, Korra falls silent, keepin a death grip on the metal, ready to attack and defend herself if need be, “Well, let's see what you got.”

“W- What?”

“Firebending you moron.” Azula growls.

“Oh,” Korra nods, putting the necklace down. Shifting her feet into the sand before kicking, sending a large arc of fire down the beach, before pulling her arms back, and punching two large fire jabs.

“Stop,” the former princess orders, figuring best not to argue with her Korra stops, grabbing the necklace from the floor, “I'll admit, Korra, you're powerful. However you need training. And I need someone to go to the next island over for supplies, unfortunately my body is now turning against me as well as my mind. Think you can do that for me, Avatar?”

“How -How did you know?”

“Water Tribe girl, chasing spirits in Earth Kingdom robes, looking for a firebending teacher. And about a year ago I had to explain to Zuzu and his White Lotus pups that I had nothing to do with you disappearing from the South Pole.”

“You- you’d be willing to train me?”

“The world has changed since my youth, I have no hope of becoming Firelord now that Zuko and Mai have had children, and that United Republic is all that’s left of our colonies, at least this way I get to see my brother’s head explode when he learned how his best friend’s reincarnation learned from his psycho little sister.” the woman grins wickedly

Not exactly what, who, I was looking for, but, Korra shrugs, “Sounds good, Azula.”

“Excellent, Avatar.”

•••••

Korra shoves her hand in her pocket as she makes her way through the city market, Azula wanted her to get some supplies today and she wanted to send a letter to Kuvira, after almost a year and five months, this was a typical exchange, “Any letters, for me, Saka?” she asks the mail man as she enters the building.

“Yeah, two.”

he nods as she hands him her letter and a few yuans and he in turn hands her two letters sealed with the silver Metal Clan symbol, Korra can't stop the smile pulling at her lips as she sees Kuvira's straight laced script, “Thank you, see you in two weeks, Saka.” She calls over her shoulder, leaving the small building.

“Hey! Leave me alone!” A voice in one of the side streets says, frowning, Korra places the two letters in her bag before walking towards the voice, she sees a girl about her age with long black hair, and three of the village thugs, the eldest, Gomin, holding her arms, pinning her to the building wall as his two lackeys stand behind him, fire daggers at the ready.

“This'll be easy, miss, just give me your money and we can all walk away happy.” He grins.

Before the girl can answer, Korra calls out, “Hey, Gomin.” She makes her own set of fire daggers as the four other people in the street look towards her, two with fear, one with disgust, and the third mild curiosity, “Is this really how you welcome guests into this village? Let her go.” Korra growls taking another step towards the group.

“Or what, mutt?” He demands turning his attention to the Avatar who's leaning against the wall, feeling the earth and metal around her, she's sure she can beat them with fire, but earth and water were options. She was much more willing to leave here than Zaofu, Azula was a fine teacher and wouldn't call the White Lotus, for vastly different reasons then Su, but she's made a point of not making friends this time, caring about people complicates everything.

“Why don't you come find out.” Korra grins, seems like this'll be fun, “This mutt can kick your ass seven ways to Sunday.” She puts her bag on the ground by the building, still in view but not in her way should get physical.

The oldest boy snarls at the Avatar, releasing the mystery girl with one hand, sending an arc of fire towards her, only for Korra to jump over the stream, then runs at the boys, Gomin’s lackeys run off as Korra sets her fists ablaze. Realizing her captors distraction, the raven haired girl kicks at his hand, causing a loud snap to ring out, he screams out in pain, attempting to hit the mystery girl, only for her to duck and Korra to cover the distance between them, using one hand to pin him to the wall, the other she forms a fire dagger again, forcing it to heat up to the signature blue of her firebending master, pushing it ever closer to the boy’s neck, “Now, you're going to walk away, and if I find we have to do this again, Gomin.” She breathes into his ear, “you'll wish I ended it here. Understand?”

“Yes.” He nods as much as he can, scraping his face on the wall before Korra lets him go, he scampers off, cradling his wrist,

“Sorry about that.” Korra gives a crooked smile towards the green eyed girl before turning and walking back down the street, absentmindedly grabbing her bag, planning to grab the last few things she and Azula needed for the next week.

“Hey, wait.” She turns and suddenly the girl is in front of her, a minuscule smile on her face, “I don't believe I caught your name.”

“That'd be because I didn't offer it. My apologies, an unfortunate mistake on my part.” Korra smiles, “Korra.” She offers the girl her hand.

The girl takes her hand and gives it a firm shake, “Asami, Asami Sato.” The fact that she gave a last name gives Korra pause, where did she know that name from, “Can I invite you to dinner with me and my father? As a thank you for stepping in there, Korra?”

“No need to thank me,” Korra furrows her brow, “I just did what was right, those guys are morons.” Korra shrugs, she just wants to leave.

“I insist.” The girl, Asami, steps in front of the Avatar, “It doesn't have to be tonight, but a Sato always pays their debts.” There she goes using her last name again, where have I heard it before?

“You aren't going to let this go, are you?” Korra sighs.

“Not in this lifetime.” Asami responds with a grin.

“I can't tonight, my master’ll want me back soon.” Korra tries one last attempt, she does not want anything holding her to this town or the people here, Zaofu already put plenty of dents into her chakra path, but then it's not like she had been free of them before she ran from the compound, and this girl was a walking potential connection.

“Tomorrow then.” Asami responds.

“Fine, okay.” Korra nods, there are worse reasons to be thanked she supposed, and she just needs to get through one dinner with her and her dad, nothing bad could happen there.

“Meet me in front of the Jasmine Dragon down there,” She says pointing down the street, “At 6 tomorrow.” She steps out of the Avatar's way before walking away from the main market.

Korra sighs and rolls her eyes, shifting her bag better onto her shoulder and walking back into the market, looking over the various venders she buys a few thing as she walks back to the small boat Azula uses for runs to the market. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. Korra shrugs letting a small smile play on her lips as she walks towards the small boat, absentmindedly opening the first letter from Zaofu and reading it.


	13. Chapter 13

“You sure about this, Kuvira?” Su asks leaning on the girl’s bedroom door.

The fifteen year old unconsciously pops each of her fingers one by one under her thumb, looking around the mostly bare room, over 7 ½ years she hasn't collected much, enough to put most of her things in two bags, with the rest waiting here for a few more months or so until she's settled, “You said at 16 I could join, do you think I'm not ready?”

“That's not what I'm saying, sweetheart. I just want you to know if you want to wait a few more months, train some more or even leave Zaofu for a while, travel, see the world, go with Korra for awhile.”

“Korra knows if she needs help, she can radio me or send me a letter and I'll be there as soon as I can. Even if she doesn't ask, I'll be there the moment she gets in over her head. As for travel, I don't need to do that now, call it a gut feeling. And why wait when I've been sure of this since I was 8.”

Su nods, “Just remember Kuv, you'll always have a home here, okay?”

“I'll be fine, Su. I'll be doing good.”

Su walks into the room and gives the girl a smile, “I have no doubt about that, Kuvira.” She responds putting the two now closed suitcases on the floor at the foot of the bed, “Now get to sleep, sweetheart, tomorrow will be a big day.”

•••••

“Korra!” A voice calls the Avatar’s attention to the Jasmine Dragon as she fiddles with the sleeve of her nicest dress clothes, Azula has repeatedly told her a world leader must know how to dress and speak, and the moment she had said the last name Sato she had all but insisted Korra had to go. She's long since outgrown her dress from Zaofu and even if it did fit it'd draw plenty attention, so she's dressed in a red dress shirt and black dress pants, her metal armband molded into a thin line, wrapping once around her upper arm before disappearing under her shirt and wrapping around her shoulder and resting on her clavicle. Looking towards where the area her name was called she sees the girl from yesterday, Asami, by who she assumes is her father. She feels a hand grab her wrist, looking up ready to fight only to see it's Asami, “You look amazing,” she smiles looking Korra over.

“You look pretty snazzy too, Asami,” the avatar says looking the girl over, she's wearing a dress suit just like the day before.

“Thank you,” she nods pulling her towards the man, “Korra, this is my dad, Hiroshi Sato.”

“Pleasure to meet you, Mr. Sato.” Korra gives a small bow before offering her hand.

The man takes her hand shaking it with a smile, “Hiroshi’s fine, my dear. I must thank you for helping my Asami out yesterday.”

“Based on the way Gomin’s wrist looked after Asami was done with it, she did most of the work.” Korra responds running her hand through her hair, “I just stepped in to help like any decent person would do.”

“Not just anyone.” The man laughs clapping the Avatar’s back, “Now, dinner.” He smiles, “Where do you girls want to go?”

“I don't care, Hiroshi.” Korra shakes her head and taking a small step back.

“How about the Panda Spirit?” Asami asks talking about one of the nicer restaurants in the village.

“Sounds good, princess.” The man laughs before letting the girls lead them down the street.

•••••

“So Korra ever been to Republic City?” Asami asks midway through dinner.

“Um, not yet, but as soon as I've mastered firebending, I'm heading over there,” Korra shrugs.

This seems to get Hiroshi’s attention, “Won't your parents be worried, you going off to the big city?” He takes a drink like Su did when she's digging for information, it seems the captain of industry is looking for something from her.

“Nope, I haven't had parents to worry about me since I was eleven. That's why I went to Zaofu, an old family friend,” not a total lie, past life, family, what's the difference, “Looked after me for a while til I could find a firebending teacher.”

“Oh, I'm sorry to hear about your parents.” The Man seems troubled by the answer, but before he can continue, a man in a business suit comes up to the table, Hiroshi frowns, looking at Korra and Asami, “Korra, what do you know about the carnival I saw on our way here?”

“It's a celebration of the Summer equinox, the big draw is the annual Agni trials, otherwise they have some local bands performing, some vendors, a few rides, you know, the usual.”

He nods before reaching into his pocket and handing Asami a hand full of yuans, “I'm really sorry princess, I really do have to talk to Mr. Yamamoto, do you think you and Korra could go to that carnival, I'll meet you back at the hotel later tonight?”

“Okay, dad,” Asami nods grabbing the money and motioning Korra to follow her out of the restaurant. They get a block away before Asami sighs, “He feels guilty I don't have many friends my age, that's why he sent us off to this carnival.” She rolls her eyes, “You don't have to stay back with me, you can go back home or hangout with your own friends, not the snooty foreign rich girl.” She tells Korra.

“You really don't have friends? I'd think someone as kind as you'd have plenty.”

“Nope. I spend too much time working on Satomobiles and business meetings.”

“Well the lack of friends is something we have in common, I didn't really know anyone my own age til I went to Zaofu, Kuvira's my only friend really.” Korra responds frowning at the ground before smiling softly at the heiress, “How about we both add one more friend tonight?”

Asami smiles and lets out a small laugh, “I’d like that, Korra.”

“Good.” Korra nods as they walk into the carnival taking up the whole city square and most the connecting streets, a large stage in the center, “Now, what do you want to do?”

“What was that Agni trial you mentioned?” Asami asks quietly grabbing Korra's wrist as the crowd builds around them.

“It an annual contest around here, it's a firebending fight, a mix of an Agni kai and pro bending, you win you get major bragging rights for the next year and 250 yuan prize.” Korra explains, looking up at the stage, “I'd kill to try my hand at it.” She whispers before shrugging, “but it doesn't start til 8:30.”

Asami frowns an idea forming, “Up for the ring toss til then?”

“Yeah,” Korra nods as they walk to the toss.

Asami places ten Yuans on the counter, “A hundred rings please.”

“That's gonna take awhile.” Korra mumbles as the attendant hands them 5 baskets of 20 rings. Korra looks over the booth, there had to have been almost 200 bottles, most green, several blue, a hand full of red, and one yellow near the center.

“Up for a competition?” Asami grins holding one of the rings.

“Whoever gets the most rings?” Korra asks.

“Kinda, if you get it on a green bottle, you get to ask the other person a yes or no question, if you get blue, a one word answer, red, any question you want and they have to answer completely.”

“And the yellow?” Korra grins wanting to know more about this girl.

“You get to ask them to do anything, within reason of course.”

“Sounds fun.” Korra grins grabbing a ring, “guests first.” She motions to Asami who throws the ring and lands it on a blue bottle.

“Favorite color?”

“Blue.”

Korra throws and misses, she sighs but motions for Asami to go again, and misses, the next shot Korra doesn't ringing it around a blue one,

“Favorite animal?”

“Wolf-leopard.” Korra looks among the prizes and sees a stuffed one up near the top.

Asami gets a red one, “Why are you going to Republic City?”

“Lots of reasons you wouldn't believe if I told you, but the long and short of it is to make something of myself.”

Korra gets a green, “Have you ever seen a polar bear dog?”

“No.” Asami shakes her head before getting another red, “What's the real reason you left the South Pole?”

“My parents and people I thought I could trust, they all lied to me about something that they never should have. And I did need to train, so I left, I ran away.” Asami, to her credit, only nods as Korra throws her next three rings angrily.

Asami gently throws one on a green, “Have you ever considered going back?”

“To the South Pole? No, yes, no. I can't.”

Korra throws a green one, “When I get to Republic City, can I look you up? Can we still be friends?”

“Yes.”

Asami gets a green, Korra notes they're almost on the last basket, “Are you seeing anyone romantically?”

“Nope.”

Asami gets the yellow, “let's finish before I ask you.” She says promptly throwing another green, “Do you like anyone?”

Korra chews her lip, green eyes and raven hair with green and silver comes to mind instantly, but then so does Asami’s laugh, “Yes.”

Korra gets a blue, “Favorite sport?”

“Probending.”

Asami gets a blue, “how old are you?”

“14.”

“Huh, I'm a bit older than you.”

Korra gets the yellow with her last throw, “I'll ask after you ask my yours.” She says pointing to the stuffed animal for Asami, handing it to her as the vendor turns to one of the other patrons.

“I want you to let me pay for you to enter the Agni trial.” Asami asks.

“I'll do it, on the condition I don't go under my name, I don't want my parents to find me   
“Deal.” Asami nods leading Korra to the sign up sheet.

“Five Yuan and your name.” The lady at the table says.

Asami lays down the money before looking to Korra for a name, “Kira.” Korra says.

The woman nods, “Well, Kira, uniforms are over there, you're number 16, be ready in ten minutes, you're in the 1st match of the first round.” The lady says putting a sign on the table, “Sign ups are over!”

Korra walks over to where the lady directed, Asami following close behind, “What is this exactly?” Asami finally asks as Korra pulls the black shirt on with red accents, her number in white on her back, then pulling a pair of black pants.

“Well it's a contest, we fight til one of us is knocked off, no lightning, no combustion, firebending only. No shots to the groin. No head shots either, and no empty hand hits,” Korra lists off, pulling her hair back into a braid, I need to cut my hair again.

“Won't someone get hurt?” Asami frowns.

“Not if they're good. But they have healers here so no one’s gonna die or anything.” Korra shrugs, “Hence why the short sleeves.”

Just then a gong rings, “That'll be for the first match, wish me luck,” she grins putting on the red helmet, similar to a probending helmet. Before walking to the front of the stage as Asami walks back to the crowd, finding a spot to sit and watch the match.

“Welcome, Makapu, to the Agni trials, we have some great matches tonight, last year’s victor, Rohi, is back to defend his title, but he has several new challengers to defeat to keep it. You all know the rules, the first match is Sigo” he points to a man, a bit older than Asami maybe 17 or 18, “Versus Kira!” he points to Korra, “I want a nice clean fight you two.” he tells the two before dropping his hand, “Fight.”

Both Korra and her opponent bow before falling into bending stances, “Come on Korra.” Asami murmurs as Sigo fires several shots at her new friend, who easily dodges, before she kicks three shots, putting the boy off balance, before Korra jumps, kicking a flame to his chest, knocking him off the stage.

The gong rings “In an impressive 1 minute, 13 seconds, new comer Kira has won the match.” Korra smiles raising a hand in victory before she jumps off the stage, offering Sigo a hand up before the announcer leans in and whispers in her ear, she nods before walking over to where Asami is sitting.

“Hey,” Korra grins.

“Hey,” Asami responds, “That was so cool.” she smiles facing Korra, “In my self defense classes, they taught us to look for the opening, but I've never… you saw it and took it.”

“Firbenders are so willing to waste energy they don't need to, sometimes it's best to just wait and then act. He just left an opening early on.” Korra shrugs.

“So, what comes next?”

“Well, next round I'm against the winner of this match. But round two doesn't start til 9:45 at the earliest, depending on how the rest of these matches go.”

“At 5 minutes 32 seconds, the winner is Yikozo.”

“She left her right side open most of that fight, she hits until her opponent is tired out, I'll just need to last longer than her.” Korra tells herself before looking back to Asami, “Do you want to go do something else, or stay here and watch?”

“I want to watch all the people you're gonna beat.” Asami responds with a grin.

“You're pretty confident in my abilities for someone who just met me yesterday.”

“Eh,” she shrugs, “Sato’s never put money behind anything they aren't confident in.” Asami responds leaning a bit closer to the younger girl, “Call me an conspiracy theorist but I think you have more than firebending to show off.”


	14. Chapter 14

“At 4 minutes 17 seconds, Kira wins this round.” The announcer says as Korra steps off the stage again a grin on her face.

“What time do you have to be back to your hotel, Asami?” Korra asks sitting back down beside her.

“My dad didn't really give me a time.” Asami shrugs.

“Well…” Korra begins before a tap on her shoulder causes her to turn around, she turns to see a girl a bit older than her, dark brown hair and grey eyes, with a soft grin on her face, offering a hand.

“Hi, I'm Yuna.” Asami raises an eyebrow as Korra hesitantly accepts the hand, shaking slowly, waiting for the girl to explain herself, the older girl points to a boy in the crowd wearing a brown tank top with blue trim, “That's my bother, Aden.”

“Nice to meet you?” Korra asks, “I'm Ko-”

Asami coughs to interrupt Korra, “Kira, any idea when you're up next?” She gently reminds Korra of the fake name the mysterious girl probably knows her as.

Korra gives Asami a small smile, “I'm Kira,”

“Asami Sato.” Asami nods studying Yuna.

“Well, Kira, we've been looking for a firebender.”

“For?” Asami asks before Korra could.

Yuna steps a bit so she's only looking at Korra, “Ever considered probending?”

“Here?” Probending outside of a major city wouldn't do anything for Korra, at least in major cities she'd learn a more aggressive and modern form of fighting, and if it was with the right team it'd be a way to get to Republic City and see what problems Aang and Zuko’s project had under the surface and get situated before she started airbending training.

“No, me and my brother, we're going big, Republic City, the Makapu Moose Lions, we just need a decent firebender, and so far you're beyond decent, Kira.”

“So is everyone still in this tournament.” Korra shrugs, “Why ask me?”

“Call it a feeling. Your bending style is the closest to what we're looking for.” The girl shrugs, “Think about it, if you decide you want to, we’ll be at the gym on the corner of Roku and Lion Turtle from 5am til noon for the next two weeks, show up any day this week and you have the spot.”

“I'll think about it.” Korra nods seeing that the fourth and final match of this round was looking like it was almost over, and she doesn't know who she's up against, “But anyway, I have to go.” She puts her helmet back on.

“Good luck,” Yuna grins before making her way back to her brother.

Korra looks to Asami, strapping the head gear onto her head, bending down to Asami level, “That was slightly odd, right?” She gives the heiress a crooked grin.

“Just a bit, but you said you wanted to go to Republic City, that'd be a way to do it,” Asami shrugs.

“You're probably right.” Korra looks to her, “Did you happen to see who I was going against?”

“Unfortunately, no,” Asami shakes her head, “Good luck, be careful.”

Korra nods walking to the right of the stage, a girl about her age with a 3 on her uniform stands on the other side. Her short hair pulled back into a bun.

“Now for round 3 folks!” The announcer grins, “Our finalist are, Shae,” pointing to number 3, “Rohi,” he points to the previous year's winner in number 8, “Ikam,” the younger man in number 11 raises both hands, “and finally Kira.” he points to Korra who grins towards the crowd, “Okay, competitors, are you ready?” He asks to which they nods, “Audience, are you ready?”

He gets a loud cheer, Korra looks to Asami who seems to be really involved, “That's what I like to hear,” he almost seems to laugh,

“Now, Kira, Shae, you two are up. Good luck girls!” he stands between them, Korra feels herself bow as the other girl, before once again dropping into a fighting, dodging the other girl’s attacks, until one catches her shoulder, she holds back a scream as she feels her flesh burn starting down her arm, below her elbow up to her shoulder, draw the power away until the fire stops. The few seconds it takes to stop the burning give Shae all the advantage she needs to get close to the Avatar, pulling two daggers of fire into either hand. Korra freezes her heart pounding, sending a burst of fire toward the other girl jumping over the other firebender, landing on the other side, taking a deep breathe as she lands wrong on her left knee.

“Feel the air and dodge it.” a familiar voice tells her

“Aang?” she murmurs quietly closing her eyes as the next flame comes towards her, and in that moment she feels the slight breeze, she can feel the air just like she did the other elements, she grins, lifting her burnt hand to her chest, avoiding all of Shae’s blasts, waiting for an opening any opening, the other girl seems to be getting more and more angry.

“Just tap out!” Shae growls as the announcer continues to commentate the match. The match had now been going on almost half and hour.

“Not going to happen.” Korra says over the pounding in her ears and the pain in her arm and leg, she makes a wall of fire before sending it towards the other girl, who easily splits the wall down the middle.

Shae gives a maleficent smile before changing her bending method, more waterbending influence than before, building energy at her fingertips, Korra freezes, knowing exactly what the other girl was planning. She feels energy in her old body attempting to get out and she grounds herself, “Trust me, Korra,” Aang’s voice asks

“Wait,” Korra mutters as the lightning begins to form on the other girl’s fingers, then she directs it towards the Avatar, “Now.” she whispers a split second before the lightning connects she feels immense power, and she doesn’t seem to have control of her arm as it’s raised in line with the lightning, she feels it moving within her body to her fire chakra, then back out. And as quickly a sit all started the power is gone and Korra is a shell as she looks around, the announcer calls a couple guards to take her opponent away as Korra feels a pair of healers come up beside her, “‘M fine,” she mumbles not wanting their help.

She had just entered the Avatar State and redirected lightning, she could walk on air

“Kira is the winner, Shae is disqualified from this competition.”

“Kira, can I see your arm?” a soft voice asks a woman about Kya’s age asks, gently leading her to the wooden steps that Rohi was walking up for his fight for Ikam.

He taps her uninjured shoulder, “That was pretty cool kiddo.” He grins

“Wait til I kick your butt next round.” Korra grins back, to which he laughs and shakes his head before going on the stage

“You’re really going in for the next round?” a new voice asks. She looks up to see sami, shifting side to side at the base of the stairs

The woman beside her brings glowing hands to the burn, starting at her shoulder, “I want to,” Korra nods, “I don’t need both hands to at least give a good fight,” the Avatar looks over to her new friend, who won’t stop looking at the burn, she notices green eyes have a few tears forming in them, “Hey, I’ll be okay. Are you?”

“Yeah,” Asami nods, wiping at her eyes,”Yeah, I’m fine.”

“Hey,” Korra sighs, softly grabbing the heiress's wrist, making her look at her, “What’s wrong? I’m sorry, I’ll stop.” she promises not wanting her new friend to cry

“No,” Asami shakes her head,”It’s nothing, I’ll explain later.” she promises

“I’m holding you to that.”

“Anywhere else hurt?” the healer asks.

“I landed off on my knee,” Korra motions to her opposite knee which the healer nods, reaching her hand across Korra’s body and healing her knee, behind Asami she sees Yuna and her brother, “Hey, Yuna!” Korra calls over the crowd, causing the earthbender to look towards her, “Tomorrow at 5, right?” she asks with a grin.

She gets a nod and smile, she sighs, she needs to get to Republic City, Kya always said Tenzin got the Avatar State better than any of them except maybe Katara and Zuko, though both of those are clearly off the table, at least with Tenzin maybe she could convince him to let her stay in Republic City and train her in airbending and not send her back to that compound.

A gong rings, “And in a stunning upset, Ikam has won this match at 12 minutes 49 seconds!” the announcer says, “Now we’re gonna give Ikam and Kira 15 minutes to prepare then we find out who is Agni’s champion!”

Korra rolls her shoulder, not fully healed but a thousand times better than it was and the healer steps away, her knee no longer hurts either, “Thank you.”

She takes a few steps towards Asami, “You’re sure you’re okay with me continuing? Say the word and I’ll forfeit and we can do something else or I can take you back to your hotel.” she asks softly.

“I promise, I’ll be fine,” Asami smiles softly, “Go get him, Lightning.”

“Good, I wouldn’t want to be unable to see you again cause I was such a bad friend on our second day of knowing each other, that I made you cry and did something you didn't want me to do.”

“No, you're fine.” Asami shakes her head, “Go on.”

Korra nods, putting her helmet back on, waiting for the gong to ring again.

“And in the final match of the evening, we have Ikam.” The announcer’s voice echoes over the thundering crowd, “and Kira Lightning!” Korra pauses at the added name but quickly smiles and waves, the crowd gets even louder, with that last fight it seems Korra has become a fan favorite.

“Okay, both of you, keep it clean.” The announcer stands between them as they both bow. Korra lets him fall into his stance first before falling into a half one, her arm and knee are better but not fully healed, she can't risk getting hit like that again. She brings her arms up, splitting his attack, though she can feel her feet slip back towards the edge.

Waiting isn't going to work. She thinks dogging another barrage, the last flame, she catches with her hand, sending in back to him, before letting blast after blast off, some he avoids, most he can't as Korra is going too fast, before he can really get another major shot off Korra's in the air, about to send him off the edge. She misses.

Ikam kicks at the Avatar, who has to jump to avoid the blaze, but before she can regain her footing, Korra gets hit, sending her to the floor, but not off the stage. The second hit however she has no time to dodge and with one last hit Korra is out of the ring and off the stage.

Korra quickly pushes herself to her feet, she lost, she feels a hand tap her shoulder, Ikam is offering her a hand back up onto the stage as the announcer walks back on the stage, he hands her a bag, before turning to Ikam with a much larger bag, “And the winner is, Ikam! Our new Agni champion!”

The boy grins waving to the crowd before looking to Korra, offering his hand to shake, “I look forward to seeing you next year,” he smiles.

“Maybe, I'm actually leaving soon, to the Republic, maybe I'll see you there?” She responds

“Maybe.”

She nods before walking off the stage, looking for Asami, who she sees near the stairs, “Hey,” she says quietly.

“Hi,” Asami smiles, “Good job, Lightning.”

“Please tell me that's not going to become a thing?” Korra gives a small laugh.

“Nah, I think it will.”

Korra rolls her eyes but nods, “What hotel are you staying at?”

“Twin Jade Lotus.”

“Swanky.” Korra teases as she and Asami make their way through the crowd. After a couple minutes the crowds thin.

Korra opens the bag, the second place prize isn't near as much as the first place but it'll keep her afloat for quite awhile after she leaves Azula. She reaches in and grabs the entrance fee, handing it to Asami, “I don't want to start being friends by owing you money.”

“It's fine, Korra. It's nothing, I don't care.”

“Well I do.”

They fall back into a comfortable silence, until “My mom was killed when I was 9,” Asami suddenly says. Korra pauses, looking towards the heiress, “She was killed by the Agni Kai Triad, they're the firebending tirad in Republic city. I was there.”

“I'm so sorry Asami,” Korra offers.

Asami shakes her head, “You were wondering why I was crying earlier, that's why.”

“Oh,” Korra nods as they fall silent.

As the hotel comes into view Korra sighs, “I ran away from the South Pole.” She admits to her new friend. Asami stops this time looking to Korra, who's incredibly interested in her feet, “My parents don't know where I am.”

“Why'd you leave?” Asami asks.

“It's a bit of a story, and some of it I really can't tell you. But long story short, they thought they were protecting me, but I don't need protection, I needed to leave. So here I am. I'll explain more eventually, it's just, a really long story.”

Asami nods as they keep walking, “So what kind are you gonna ask me to do, Lightning?”

“What?” Korra pauses, “Oh yeah, the ring,” she smirks, “How long are you gonna be in town?”

“Dad wants to be back in Republic City by the end of the month.” she responds, “So at least two weeks.”

“Well then, I’d like to see you again before you leave, give me a chance to show you you around without fire fights and fancy dinners?” She asks as they get to the hotel.

“Sounds perfect,” Asami smiles, “Thursday okay? Say 4 o’clock?”

“Yes.” Korra responds, perhaps a bit too quickly, “See you then.” She grins.

Asami nods, “See you then,” before walking into the hotel.

Korra stands there for several minutes a crooked grin on her face before shaking her head.

So much for no connection, her chakra’s are screwed.

Waking to the edge of town and finding her boat, sailing off the island to the smaller one Azula and she live.

“You're back late, Avatar,” the elderly woman notes.

“I redirected lightning tonight,” she offers petting Naga, “I got second in the Agni trials, and I think I may have a way to get to Republic City.”

“Oh, you do, Korra?”

“Probending.” Korra responds.

“You think you're ready for the big city?” Azula laughs, “You think you're ready for Avatar Aang’s and Zuzu’s pet project?”

“I think I need to go there, see where I can help before revealing myself as the Avatar, before I start airbending training.”

“You want me to declare you a master?”

“I just beat everyone but Ikam, I can learn more in Republic City.”

“No need to argue Avatar, you've learned everything but cold blooded fire, and if you did that tonight, even the littlest bit in the Avatar state, any decent firebender anymore could teach you if you want to at some point.” Azula shrugs, “As far as I'm concerned, you've mastered firebending.”

“Really?” Korra grins.

“Really.” Azula nods, “Now when can I get you out of my hair?”

“We'll be out of here by next month I think.”

The former princess nods before walking away, “Sleep well Avatar.”

Before the sun rises, Korra forces herself awake. She feeds Naga and grabs her own before going to the boat, quickly crossing to the main island.

She walks to the gym on Roku, walking to the main gym. Opening the door she doesn't see Yuna or her brother. She places her bag by the wall, and figures she'll find something to do. The track around the gym is better than nothing, so she starts running.

“I didn't actually expect you today, Kira.” A voice says after her fifth lap.

She looks to see Yuna and her brother, Korra brings herself to a stop in front of them, quickly grabbing a drink of water, “Is the offer still open?”

The older girl pauses, looking towards her brother, “Aden, this is Kira, she's our firebender.” She finally says.


	15. Chapter 15

“Come on Aden, pick up your feet!” Yuna yells as Korra and the Waterbender dodges her barrage of stone.

 

“I'm trying, Yu, not everyone can dodge like Kira,” he grumbles.

 

“Yuna, let's take a break then let Aden have his shot at us.” Korra offers

 

Yuna nods tossing both of them a water bottle.

 

“What do you guys have later today?”

 

“I have a shift at Narook’s.” Aden responds rubbing the back of his neck.

 

“I’m doing something with Asami then I have a lesson,”

 

Yuna nods with a half grin, “How’s your girlfriend anyway?”

 

Korra pours some of her water into her palm, flicking it at the earthbenders, jawing a little waterbending to make sure it hits her, “She's not my girlfriend!”

 

“Could've fooled me,” Aden laughs

 

Before anyone can say anything else they hear footsteps and another probending team stands in the doorway, their bags slung over their shoulders, “See Bolin,” the tallest boy says, he looks to be their firebender and captain, “I told you there'd be people here.”

 

Korra looks towards Aden and Yuna who both shrug, “There's plenty of room for all of us,” she offers, “We're just working on dodging if you guys want to start your stuff.” Even though on paper Yuna is captain, Korra has found that often she can speak up for the team, being louder and a bit more decisive than the earthbender. She walks up to the other team’s earthbender, the only one smiling at them, “I'm Kira, and that's Yuna and Aden.” She motions to her teammates, offering a hand to shake.

 

The earthbender takes her hand, “I'm Bolin, this is Hasook, he's our waterbender, and this,” he points to the taller firebending boy, “Is my brother Mako. We're the Fire Ferrets.”

 

“Makapu Moose Lions.” Korra offers, “Aren't we playing you the first match of the preseason?”

 

“I think so,” the boy nods, “You're sure you guys would be okay with us practicing while you guys do?”

 

“Sure,” Yuna shrugs, “Besides we’ll be out of here soon anyway.”

 

“Come on, Mako, they said they’re okay with it, let’s just dress out.” Bolin begs, he doesn’t seem like an earthbender to Korra, she’d peg him more as an air or waterbender honestly, with how unassertive and friendly he seems to be.

 

“Fine, Bolin,” Mako sighs, brushing past Korra to dress out.

 

“Great,” she frowns, Bolin’s brother on the other hand, is plenty moody enough to be a firebender, and Hasook seems even more moody by the look on his face. But Korra gives the earthbender a small smile before letting go of his hand, “Aden’s turn?” She asks Yuna 

 

“Yep, the barrel’s are ready.” The waterbender responds.

 

  * ••••



 

Another hour and a half later, Korra is helping Aden to his feet. “Nice shot Kira,” Yuna smiles, “I assume your girlfriend will be waiting for you?” She asks looking at the clock on the wall.

 

“I have some time, but I think we should wrap it up, we don't want Narooks to have to deal with Aden’s funk,” Korra laughs.

 

“Gee thanks, Kira,”

 

“She's right, little brother.” Yuna nods, “Let's wrap it up.”

 

“I'll get the barrels picked up, you guys go ahead.” Korra offers, “I'll see you tonight,”

 

The siblings nod before leaving for the locker room, Korra grabs one of the four barrels, easily lifting it up and moving it halfway to the wall before another set of hands are on it. Korra looks up to bright green eyes and a crooked smile, “Here, let me help?” Bolin asks taking a good portion of the weight of the barrel, helping her move it back across the room.

 

“Thank you, Bolin,” she smiles, going up to the next barrel.

 

“So are you guys new to the city?” Bolin asks grunting under the weight of the barrel.

 

“Yeah, we just got here about three weeks ago.”

 

“Well, how would you feel about you and I doing an activity together?” He shrugs, “I could show you some of the sites,” he grins, “I've lived here my whole life.”

 

Korra opens her mouth to say that Asami had already showed her a bunch of the city, but he gives her a big smile which reminds her more than a little of Wing and Wei, so hesitantly, she nods, “Sure, I’d love to,” she nods,  _ What’s the worst that could happen? _

“Cool!” he grabs one of the last two barrels and Korra grabs the other one, “Is tomorrow okay? That way it’s before the season starts?” She nods.

 

“Bolin, Come on, quit flirting and get over here!” Mako yells.

 

“I’m sorry, I swear Mako’s nice, he’s just stressed with this being our first season.” Bolin explains quickly.

 

“It’s fine, Bolin, I get it,” Korra raises both hands, “But I actually have to meet a friend in a bit. Meet you tomorrow?”

 

“In front of Harmony tower?” He asks

 

She nods, vaguely remembering Asami showing her and the others the landmark, it’s not that far from her and the team’s apartment. Seeing her nod, he does so in return before running back to join his team, giving her one more grin before she goes to the locker room with her new gym bag, the one from Zaofu having been hidden away, no way to explain how she opens a bag only a metalbender can open. 

 

  * ••••



 

Back in some nonprobending clothes Korra comes out of the Probending Arena’s main entrance, instantly spotting the heiress leaning against her satomobile, “Hey, ‘Sami,” Korra grins.

 

“Hey, Lightning,” Asami grins jumping into the car, Korra doing the same on the other side.

 

“So, what did you want to show me?” Korra grins.

 

“Well, I was thinking, living in the big city, you should know how to drive,”

 

“I know how to drive a motorcycle,” Korra shrugs, “We used them sometimes to get around the domes in Zaofu quickly,”  _ At least the older kids did, Opal and the twins were still too young when she left, not any more though. _

 

“Let me try to teach you in a Satomobile, if I can’t I’ll get you a Satocycle.”

 

“Wow, Sato, slow down,” Korra sits up straight as they turn into Dragon Heights, “What do you mean, ‘get me a Satocycle’ I can’t afford that, and I have Naga if I really need to get anywhere quickly.”

 

Asami shrugs, “Dad said it was okay, it’s going to be a birthday present. It’s honestly no big deal, Korra.”

“It kinda is, Asami.” even the suggestion gives her pause, the Water Tribe wasn’t big on presents, before she left, her biggest presents were new water skins from Kya and a pair of platinum knives from Sokka and Katara, taken away from her til she was older promptly by her mother because, ‘Avatar or not, a ten year old doesn’t need knives outside of training’. Even after she left to Zaofu and Makapu, she really didn’t have anything big for a gift, birthday or otherwise, the Zaofu armband, and a small necklace Kuvira had given her were the only major presents and Azula’s version of a gift was a day of no training with some money to get something in town or some old Firebending and Avatar scrolls when she was leaving for Republic City. Practicality or sentimentality were always the root to her presents, so it was never anything remotely this expensive. “You don’t need to, shouldn’t spend that much money on me, I won’t  ever be able pay you back or get something like that for you.”

 

“Korra, me and Dad have so much money, we’ll never be able to spend it all. You’re my best friend, my only real friend, actually, it’s not that big of a deal to me and I don’t intend you to pay me back. Just let me do this.”

 

Korra sighs, “I’m not going to be able to convince you on this, am I?”

 

Asami sighs in turn, “If you are sure, I won’t.” she looks away, “I’m sorry, I just, it’s like I said, I’ve never had a friend to do something like this for, and I honestly didn’t think of it as a big deal,”

 

Korra pauses at that  _ ‘I didn’t think it was a big deal’ she shrugs to Kuvira after jumping off one of Zaofu’s tallest buildings, barely using earthbending to slow her fall. And it wasn’t to her, she’d done it dozens of times before and if she messed up bad enough, there’d always be another Avatar. _

 

_ ‘It’s not that big of deal’ she laughs looking at the snow collecting on the domes, the snow is barely falling and nowhere near wet enough to do anything with. _

 

_ ‘I didn’t think it was a big deal.’ she shrugs as Kuvira thanks her for stepping in front of the flames the day she told her she was the Avatar, it was nothing, she knew she could help her friend and she didn’t care about the potential injury. _

 

_ Money wasn’t a big deal to Asami anymore then snow and cold and danger was to her,  _ she sighs and shrugs, “It’s up to you, it’s still pretty big though. If you want to, go ahead.”

 

Asami nods, “Do you want to learn to drive?”

 

Korra shrugs, “Sure, why not?”

 

  * ••••



 

“That… was… okay.” Asami grins, switching over to the driver seat

 

“You’re a terrible liar, ‘Sami, don’t become a lawyer.” Korra laughs

 

“You didn’t crash.” the heiress smirks, “We can try again later?”

 

Korra nods, “If you want to.” she grins, “I actually have a small shot at beating you at a race with cycles.”

 

Asami snickers, “No you don’t. But I’ll go slow and give you a shot, Lightning.”

 

“Come on Sato, have at least a little faith in me.” Korra grins as they get to the start of the track again.

 

Asami pulls the car into the garage, motioning to two cycles nearby, “Take your pick.” Korra grins grabbing the further one, pushing it towards the track behind Asami, “5 laps?”

 

“Sounds good.” Korra nods putting her helmet on and throwing her leg over the satocycle, Asami does the same.

 

With a nod to each other, they’re off, Asami takes an early lead, pulling ahead of the Avatar easily for the last lap and a half, during the next corner, Korra pulls to the outside, right on her tail. The next corner, Korra once again pulls to the outside, speeding up to pull ahead of Asami. 

 

The Avatar is in the lead as she speeds ahead. The next turn, she feels the tires lose their grip  on the pavement, and before she can correct to keep herself upright the tires slip out from under her, sending her spiraling into the center of the field.

 

“Korra!” She hears Asami yell from nearby over the roar of the still running engine before she feels it grabbed off her leg and in her haze slowly, Korra feels her body, her heads fine, the helmet took whatever injury would have been there, and breathing doesn't hurt, both those are good signs. Legs, ugh, left on hurts, right not so much. Arms, again left hurts, right’s just sore. She feels someone drop beside her as she moves her hand to push herself up, “Are you okay, Korra?” She hears Asami ask. Korra looks up and there are several Future Industries employees around her too.

 

Korra groans, “Yeah, my arm and leg feel pretty scratched up, but yeah could've been a lot worse.” She slowly sits up, allowing her left arm to hang across her body, dripping blood down her fingertips and onto what's left of her pants, she looks down, her leg is already pretty damn bloody, but it doesn't look that bad, she takes the helmet off and feels a bit of blood smear across her right temple,  _ so maybe a cut there  _ but her stomach and chest seem fine, “Not sure if it was the tires or the track, but something slipped out from under me.” She explains, a headache forming.

 

“But you're mostly okay?” Asami asks as more employees surround them.

 

“Yeah,” Korra nods, “Nothing that can't be healed by a decent healer.” She carefully pushes herself up, Asami grabs her right hand, helping her up, thankfully not letting go, cause the moment she stands, Korra feels her ankle almost give way,  _ scraped up arm and leg, possible concussion, looks like a sprained ankle. _ She lists off mentally with a small grimace. After a few seconds she slowly leans her weight to the left, she looks over to the bike, “I'm impressed, the bike doesn't have a scratch on it.” She laughs.

 

“We build them sturdy,” Asami grins quickly, before worry sets back on her face, “I'm thinking we take you to a healer, minor or not probably best to check.”

 

“Aden can when he gets home later tonight,” Korra shakes her head, “He’ll kill me if I don't give him the chance to practice,” Aden planned to become a healer after this season was over, and any injury suffered in or out of practice has become healing practice for him, “It's honestly not that bad.” She shrugs, regretting it when her arm moves wrong, “I actually have to go back to the apartment and change, I can't greally go teach kids looking like this.” She motions to the shreds of clothing still clinging to her by threads and blood.

 

Asami motions to the mansion, “I can probably find you something, come on.”

  
It's probably a hundred yards to the mansion, Korra nods taking a deep breath and carefully shambles towards the building,  _ maybe Asami will also have something I can wrap my ankle in too. _


	16. Chapter 16

Parents are willing to pay an arm and a leg for private lessons, especially when they don't bend the element their child can. A change in the color of clothing Korra is wearing and she can teach and of the three elements she comes across, though she tends towards fire, easier to keep under the radar. Nonetheless, it's a good job, and despite working much less than Yuna or Aden, she easily pulls her weight. The yuans in her pocket remind her of that as she limps home, her jacket zipped up tight with the hood up, no need to draw unnecessary attention to herself.

 

“Well, Mr. Suzuki, do you have our money?” A slimy voice asks, “Otherwise the Agni Kai’s can’t guarantee the safety of your building. And I’d hate-”

 

Kora had heard enough, her hood still up, “You’d hate for what?” She smirks getting close to the man, no boy, he's no older than Aden.

 

“You to get involved princess. Walk away.”

 

“Not happening,” Korra frowns, she feels around her, the buildings and ground are earth, but if she starts tearing that up, that'll bring unneeded attention, there are bits of metal all around, most not attached to anything. Water, there's water everywhere, they're near the harbor so there's a bunch in the air. He's a firebender, part of the Agni Kai’s, an unneeded disadvantage on her part.

 

“This is Agni Kai business, sweetheart, who do you think you are getting involved in it?”

 

Korra shift her feet slightly, “Why don't you come find out,” she grins.

 

He nods, “As you wish, doll.” He raises his fist sending a whip of fire towards her feet, she jumps and easily dodges.

 

She smirks, pulling at the various prices of metal, using two strips to pin the boy to the wall by his wrists, then another strip to hold his feet to the ground. Korra uses the remaining metal to make a blade, attaching it to her arm. She leans on the wall, the blade a hair’s breadth away from his neck, “Now, you and I are gonna stand here while Mr. Suzuki’s gonna go radio the police, I'll move the blade in just a minute, after I'm sure you understand what I'm saying. Then you're going to admit what exactly you were doing, and if I ever see or hear about you doing anything like this again,” she leanse even closer to the boy, “You will find this to be kind and just. Do you understand what I'm saying?

 

“Yeah.” He nods, “Yes ma’am.”

 

Korra frowns, turning the knife into a bracelet, “Don't call me ma’am,” she orders, turning to look at the stunned landlord, “Mr. Suzuki, could you please call the police for,” she looks to the triad member, “What's your name kid?” 

 

“Yao,” He admits easily.

 

“For Yao here?” She asks turning back to the older man.

 

“Yes,” the man nods, “What's your name?” He asks looking her over.

 

“Korra,” Korra admits softly, a plan forming in her mind,the world needs their Avatar, Republic City needs it’s Avatar, and even if she’s not ready, is down one element and the Avatar state she can do something, even not under the Avatar title. The man nods running back into his building.

 

  * ••••



“Hey!” A voice calls, Korra turns to face the voice, coming face to face with Bolin, He gives her an easy smile, “I wasn’t sure you’d come.”

 

“Well, I’m here,” She shrugs, the earthbender seemed nice enough and more allies were never a down side.

 

“So, have you been to Narooks?” he asks grinning as they move away from the probending arena.

 

“Nope, I haven’t really been to most the restaurants around town, been a bit busy getting ready for probending and working.”

 

“Narooks has the best Southern Water Tribe food in the city,” Bolin grins, “It’s just down the street, wanna go? I’ll pay.”

 

“One thing you'll find, Bolin, it that I'll never ever turn down food.”

 

  * ••••



 

“The Metal Clan?” Bolin repeats as Korra retells her story how she got here in the City, negating the multibending parts.

 

“Yeah, they're centered in Zaofu, it's pretty amazing there.” She smiles at the memory.

 

“You seemed to like it a lot there.”

 

“I started to miss the stars eventually, but honestly, I loved it there, especially the people,” Korra shrugs.

 

Then I've spent the last couple years in the Fire Nation, and now I'm here.” Korra shrugs, “What about you, Bolin?”

 

“Well, my parents were killed by a firebender when I was 6, so Mako basically raised me, never left Republic City. Then we had Shady Shin and Two-Toed Ping help us.”

 

Korra raises her eyebrow, “Those don't sound like actual names,” she takes another bite.

 

“They're not,” he leans back, scratching the back of his neck, “We, um, kind of got caught up in the Tripple Threat Triad.” He puts both hands up as her face falls, “But we're not anymore, Toza got us out, and started training us.”

 

Korra nods, “Honestly Bolin, I’m the last person to judge people’s decisions.” she responds as she finishes her noodles

 

He nods giving Korra a look, “I don’t know, you seem pretty amazing to me, Kira,” He smiles, “Have you been to Harmony Tower yet?”

 

“Yeah, Asami took me and the rest of the team our first day,” Korra admits.

 

“Well, can I show it to you at night?” He gives his easy smile.

 

“Sure, Bolin,” The other probender makes her smile more often than almost anyone, why not let this night go longer.

 

  * ••••



 

“Ready Kira?” Yuna asks, putting on her helmet as the time counts down to their first probending match.

 

“Never been more ready,” she grins, looking at the clock, twenty minutes til the first match starts, and another three matches until their match against the Fire Ferrets, “Aden?”

 

The boy grins, “Ready to kick some ass, let's give these people a reason to talk about us. The rookie team to beat.”

 

Korra rolls her eyes, “These first eight weeks don't even really count, calm down a bit, bud.”

 

Yuna opens her mouth to respond, only to be interrupted by a soft knock on the open door, followed by, “It does matter, Lightning, sponsors will be looking at these first weeks, plus it places you for the start of the season,” Asami interrupts as the lookup to see the heiress leaning in the doorway.

 

“Hey, Asami,” Aden grin motioning the older girl to join them on the bench.

 

“Didn't think you'd make it,” Korra grins, “Thought you said you didn't usually come to the preliminary matches?”

 

“Well, I couldn't miss your guy's first match, could I?” She grins, before looking at Korra, “Still scraped up?” she asks, frowning slightly.

 

“Nah,” Korra shakes her head, turning her arm to show Asami the mostly healed scrapes, “See, told you it wasn't that bad,” Before putting her blue arm guard back on, aligning the white trim. Reaching back and braiding her hair tightly, “Ten Minutes,” She smiles, looking to Asami, “Want to stay down here with us? Or…?” She trails off.

 

“My dad is actually waiting for me up in our booth, see you after your match though?” Asami asks standing.

 

“Yeah,” Korra nods.

 

“See you when we win, Asami,” Aden grins, waving goodbye.

 

Asami laughs, “See you guys then.”

 

Just after the heiresses leaves, there's another knock on the door, Korra frowns, looking over to the other two, who both look as confused as her, Yuna is closest to the door, she opens it.

 

A woman half pushes her way in, “Who are you?” Korra asks with a frown, standing with her arms crossed.

 

The woman offers her hand, “Tatsuki Kato, with This Week Reviewed,” Korra raises an eyebrow, tentatively shaking the offered hand, Aden doing so as she continues speaking, “We're getting quotes from all the teams for our probending issue in three weeks,” She smiles, “So, what does one of our eight rookie teams have to say before their first match?”

 

Yuna smiles, showing too many teeth, “Well, we're thrilled to be here, and really hope that we'll do good enough to get some people talking about us.”

 

The woman nods when Aden nor Korra speak up to talk more, “First time jitters,” she turns to face Korra, “Well, we'd like to get interviews with all the players, as well as photos,” she hands the Avatar a business card, “You guys are on my rotation, if possible, call me in the next couple days, we need to get a few photos for you, as well as an actual interview, the City will want to know you guys, especially if you do well the next few weeks.”

 

Korra nods, putting the card in her bag, “We're actually running pretty fast on our match, we will call you tomorrow, figure out a time if you want to interview us,” Korra puts on a fake smile wanting the reporter to leave.

 

She nods with a smile, “I'll let you kids finish getting ready.” Before leaving the room.

 

“That was slightly weird, right?” Aden asks after she leaves.

 

“Little bit, we haven't even played our first match,” Korra looks to the arena, only to see Xia Yao lose a zone, the first match over in less than a minute and a half after the Boar-Q-Pines knocked out Gaoling. The Red Sands’ knock Xia Yao’s firebender into the drink. Their Waterbender quick to follow, but before they can follow Black Quarry’s lead, the buzzer rings for the round’s end.

 

The second round starts a few minutes later with a buzz. “We better get to the main locker room, we're up after the Lion Leopards and the Platypus Bears, and Red Sands seems to have this match in the bag.”

 

“Remember, try to watch for a weak link the first round, you two,” Yuna says as they get to the main locker room for the blue side, knocking, they enter, Azulon’s team is standing, almost ready to go on as the Rabaroos win the second round gaining two zones on the Zebra Frogs. They smile at them, and Aden, Yuna, and Korra smile back, but they aren't able to say anything before the Zebra Frogs come back in and the Lion Leopards enter, Shiro Shinobi introducing them first before introducing the Pinnacle Palace Platypus Bears as they walk to the center line.

 

“The Platypus Bears aren't particularly good, but Azulon are one of the other rookie teams,” Aden states, watching the match as both teams quickly give and take Zones every thirty seconds.

 

“Azulon’s Earthbender is the best, their week link looks to be,” splash, “The firebender.” Yuna states.

 

“Opposite with the Platypus Bears,” Korra points, “If they didn't have Himari, they'd be out two minutes ago, even against Azulon.”

 

But they do, so in the final twenty seconds, Himari knocks Azulon’s earth and water benders into the drink, giving them a knockout and a win.

 

“We're up, let's give them something to talk about.”

 

Azulon returns, slightly wet as they step onto the moving platform, “for our fourth match this evening, we have newcomers, The Makapu Moose Lions! With their captain, Earthbender Yuna! Her brother, Aden, the Waterbender! And Kira the firebender!” Shiro announces as the crowd cheers, “And their opponents, who are new this season as well, the Fabulous Fire Ferrets, Captain Mako, their firebender. Hasook the waterbender, and Bolin, Mako’s brother and their earthbender.”

 

The crowd quiets a bit as the referee starts the match.

 

  * ••••



 

After the match, Korra can't stop smiling, they had lost the first round, but won the second. The third all came down to a tiebreaker between her and Mako, which she won barely, he landed a couple hits that are sure to bruise, especially on her shoulder, but they won their first match.

 

They return to their actual locker room as Kolau Komodo Rhinos enter the main one.

 

“So this match is Zaofu, another rookie team, and Kolau,” Aden tells them, his hair still dripping wet.

 

They enter the door with their team name and mascot on it.

 

Asami’s waiting for them with a grin on her face, “You guys were amazing, they're already talking about playing you and the Fire Ferrets as one of the big rivalries, like Kyoshi Island and Chin, or Ba Sing Se and Laogi. You'll be the match to talk about from tonight, bare minimum, if not both nights.” 

 

“You seem pretty confident on that, Sami?” Korra smiles, sitting down and taking her helmet and arm guards off.

 

“Call it business intuition,” she shrugs, “Dad said tomorrow we'll have a victory dinner for you guys anywhere in the city.”

 

“You guys don't have to do that,” Korra frowns slightly.

 

“Well we want to, so tough,” Asami sticks her tounge out at the Avatar.

 

“Fine, I'll never turn down food, Asami, you two up for it?”

 

“Yeah, we'll be there,” Yuna replies with a nod.

 

“Good,” she beams at Korra, “Need a ride home, superstar?”

 

“We should probably stay for the rest of the matches, get an idea what we're up against this season,” Korra responds, scratching the back of her neck.

 

“I didn't mean now, silly,” Asami rolls her eyes, “I want to watch the rest of the matches to, though, if it's okay with you guys?”

 

“Yeah,” Aden nods.

 

“Sounds great,” Korra smiles.

 

“Let us change out of these first though?” Yuna asks with a small laugh.

 

Realizing they're all still in their uniforms, Asami nods, quickly leaving the room.

 

  * ••••



 

“Sami, come on, time to get up,” Korra moves her shoulder a bit, the older girl fell asleep on her shoulder some time during the fifth or sixth match, and had stayed asleep during the last two matches, the other half of the matches will happen tomorrow in the second night of probending.

 

Asami groans, but opens her eyes, “‘M up,” she nods, standing.

 

“Sure you are.” Korra laughs, grabbing the heiress’s hand, “Come on, ‘Sami, let's go find your dad.”

 

  * ••••



 

“Thank you for the ride, Mr. Sato,” Yuna says as they pull in front of their apartment building. Aden following close behind

 

“Thank you, Hiroshi, see you tomorrow, Asami,” Korra smiles, waving goodbye, before grabbing her bag and following her roommates she enters the building before walking up the four flights of stairs to their apartment. “Hi Naga,” she pats the polar bear dog, before slipping into her bedroom at the end of the hall, grabbing a black shirt with maroon trim and and pair of forest green pants, dark enough she wouldn't easily be seen. She then opens her window, ready to climb out onto the fire escape.

 

Suddenly there's a knock at the door, she jumps back in the room, putting a light colored jacket on before quickly opening the door, only to see Aden, “Asami’s on the radio to talk to you.”

 

“They just left,” Korra frowns, walking out of the room, to the kitchen. Yuna hands the receiver to her, “Hello?”

 

“Hey Korra.”

 

“What's up, ‘Sami? Miss me already?”

 

“I meant to ask but I forgot, next Friday, my dad has some galla to go to, and I need a date. Could I convince you to be my plus one?”

 

Korra freezes, “Like a date?” Next week their match is on Saturday instead of Friday. And the idea of a date with Asami, sounds more then a little amazing.

 

“Shit, you're right, this was stupid, forget I asked, Korra, I'll find someone else.”

 

“No, Asami, it's fine, I'll go with you, just tell me to

morrow what I need to wear and stuff.”

 

“You will?” She can hear the older girl smile on the other end, “Really?”

 

“Yeah, Asami, really.” Korra nods.

 

“Thank you, I owe you, majorly.”

 

“No it's fine,” Korra shakes her head, “But it's a little late, ‘Sami, can we discuss details when I see you tomorrow?” Korra really wants to get out and show the triads and other criminals that the Avatar is now in town and she means business.

 

“Oh, yeah, definitely, talk to you then.” 

 

“See you tomorrow,” Korra smiles, before the she hands up the receiver on the wall. 

 

Yuna looks at her over the table, “What did your girlfriend want?”

 

“She needs a date next Friday,” Korra shrugs, “I agreed.”

 

“So she just, needed a date, and her first instinct was to call you?” Yuna smirks.

 

“You know what, Yuna,” Korra begins as the radio rings again.

 

“What Kira,” she cackles as  Korra shoots her a look, reaching back for the receiver.

 

“I don't need your shit,” she grins sticking her tounge out at the earthbender before answering the phone, “Hello, Asami,” she assumes she's calling back as only a few other people have this number, none of them come to mind to be calling at 10:30 at night.

 

“Try again, Avatar,” an all too familiar voice responds.

 

“Vira,” Korra can't stop herself from smiling, letters were fine, but hearing her friend’s voice for the first time in almost two years is more than a little amazing. She hadn't sent the letter that had her number to the guard more than a week ago, the mail to Zaofu from Republic City is much faster than from Makapu to Zaofu. “It's great to hear your voice, Vira,” she grins into the phone.

 

“I'm gonna head to bed,” Yuna whispers and Korra nods as Kuvira responds.

 

“I head your match on the radio, You were pretty amazing, your team was one of the few things the reporters were talking about after all the matches,” She states, her voice shaky in a way Korra seldom associates with the older girl.

 

“Thanks, Vira, wasn't sure you'd be listening,” she murmurs, brushing her bangs behind her ear.

 

“Wouldn't miss it for anything,” Kuvira murmurs.

 

After a moment of silence, Korra speaks, “Everything okay, Vira?”

 

Kuvira seems to gasp slightly, but then she responds, “Yeah, no, I'm fine, Avatar. Why do you ask?” her voice even shakier than before.

 

“You sound a little off, are you sure you're okay? Come on, you know you can talk to me about anything, Kuvira.” Korra promises, attempting to soothe her friend over 1000 miles away.

 

“It's just… stuff, nothing to worry your pretty little head about.”

 

“Hey, come on, if I get in over my head, you'll come to help me, and I'll do the same with you. As this stuff relates to you, I will worry ‘my pretty little head’ about it.”

 

She hears the guard shift, then sigh, “It's, it could be worse,” she stalls, Korra remains silent, just letting her talk, “Su, she wanted to talk to me today, she wants me, in the next few years when Bao Lee retires, she wants me to take over, become Captain of the Guard, so I can prepare to eventually take over Zaofu, she wants me to become the Matriarch after…”

 

Korra pauses, it's honestly not that crazy of a thought, she'd have bet Su was planning on training either Baatar Jr., Opal or Kuvira to lead Zaofu after her, but she has pressed Baatar into following his father’s footsteps. Opal, she content there now, but she wants to leave Zaofu eventually, and though Su doesn't want her to leave, she'll never force her children to do something they don't want to do. So Kuvira would be the most likely successor of the mantle of the title of Matriarch of the Metal Clan, “Kuvira…”

 

“Why would she do that?” Kuvira sighs, “Why me. Why- Now I can never tell her.” She hears the guard shift, “I can't do that, Korra. I'd fuck up. The entire city will be danger if I'm in charge of the guard. And fuck if I know how to run a city.”

 

“Hey, Vira, come on, do you really think they'll just throw you in and yell ‘swim!’ I'm sure they'll help you.” Korra breathes, sure that this is just the tip of the iceberg but already, Kuvira seems to be freaking out, she'd pay anything to be able to not have the damned radio between them, “Hey, come on, it'll be fine, Kuvira. You'll be great.”

 

“Korra,” Kuvira's voice shakes slightly, “I- I don't. I can't.”

 

“Vira, I'll help you if you need it, just like I swore, but you'll be fine. I know it.”

 

Kuvira sighs, “You're probably right,” she hears the guard move, “Sorry, I shouldn't be freaking out like this, I just, ever since…” She sighs again, “I just haven't been sleeping well the past month or so, kinda caught up in my head.” Korra is almost certain Kuvira is running her hands through her hair, “How are you liking Republic City.”

 

Korra chews her lip, debating telling her friend about her date(?) with Asami next week, or the budding friendship with Bolin. Her plan, what's she doing tonight to stop the triads, or how she's just waiting for someone to realize she's the Avatar. How she's planning to go to Air Temple Island as soon as the probending season is over, in the hope that if she has roots in the city, they won't lock her back up in that compound. Instead she shakes her head, not tonight, “Not much other than probending.” She looks up at the clock on the wall, twenty minutes til 12, she needs to get out if she wants to stop any members of the triad, “I'm so sorry, Vira, but I have to go, it's getting kinda late here, early morning and all.”

 

“Yeah,” she hears Kuvira nods, “Talk to you later, Avatar.”

 

“That reminds me, Yuna and Aden, they don't know,”

 

“Know what? That you're the Avatar?”

 

“Yes.” Korra bites her lip, she  _ knows  _ Kuvira's frowning.

 

“I'm hoping they at least know your name?”

 

“Well, they… No.”

 

“Oh? So you've figured out how to not have neon colored arrows pointing to you to be the Avatar? Who should I ask for if one of them answers, and names to put on the outside of letters?”

 

“Kira.”

 

“So they didn't speak wrong on the radio?”

 

“Afraid not, until I reveal myself. I'll do it in a few months, I swear.”

 

“Korra, you're not five or eleven anymore, they can't put you back in that compound anymore,” her voice suddenly is soft

 

Korra looks down the hall, seeing both Aden and Yuna’s doors are closed, presumably preparing to sleep, “It's not just that, Vira.” She mumbles softly, then a bit quieter continues, “My first Earth teacher, before I left the compound. He'd use ‘trial by fire’ I could bend some away, but I was 9, there was only so much I could do, he kept going until I was bruised or bloody, until I could hardly stay conscious or breathe, let alone stand.

 

“Then he'd force me to drink some water, leave a bowl of water, and tell me to heal myself, I hadn't even had healing lessons at that point, Vira, there really wasn't all that much I could do. He did it again and again for over a month. It was ‘making me stronger’ each time he did it. My parents and Katara said I had to trust the White Lotus. The Grandmaster didn't believe me, but got me a new teacher because I refused to go. I couldn't argue because Aang told them to keep me locked up. Only he didn't, my father did. Sokka did. And they lied so I wouldn't argue. I was 5 when they locked me up, Vira. I was 9 when he did that. I've been moronic enough to trust them once, Vira, I'm never trusting them, or anyone associated with them again, unless it comes to keeping those I love safe. And that is a  _ very _ short list.” Korra's not even sure she'd trust them if it was  _ her  _ life on the line.

 

“Okay,” Kuvira's distaste for the White Lotus is evident in her voice, “Okay, Avatar, you don't have to trust them, and if they try to take you back to that compound, I'll come help you fight them with you. But you still need to trust Master Tenzin to teach you Airbending.”

 

“I will, I just want to have a mark on this city first.”

 

“I hope you know what you're doing, Korra.”

 

“I do, Kuvira.”  _ At least I think I do.  _

 

“Then I'm gonna let you go, Avatar.”

 

“Talk to you later, Captain.”

 

Kuvira groans, “I'm not captain yet. But I will call you again later this week.”

 

“I love you, Vira. Goodnight.”

 

“Goodnight, Korra. Love you. Sleep well.” Kuvira says before hanging up. 

 

Korra hangs up too, resting her head onto the wall for several minutes before walking back to her room. Closing the door, “Stay girl,” she orders Naga as she takes the jacket off. Then slips out into the night. The criminals of Republic City now have the Avatar to worry about.

  
  



	17. Chapter 17

Korra taps her foot as they get nearer and nearer the island, she had wanted to wait at least a few more months but that is no longer an option, It's time to meet her destiny.

•—•—•8 months previous•—•—•

Korra's on patrol for the fourth time that week, after seven weeks of doing this, she's got the routine down, most triad members are nothing to sneeze at, but Korra can usually pin them to a wall and get away before the police can get more than a quick glimpse of her. The newspapers have started calling her the Sentinel, The Protector of Republic City, a few of the papers have made the connection between the Sentinel and the Avatar, though others are wondering if there's multiple people under the hat and bandana.

Jumping silently to get onto one of the building roofs, continuing her patrol, listening for anyone who needs help. Several minutes later she hears fighting, “Who are you?”

“I'm going to kill you, bender.” A voice says as Korra drops into the ally.

“Can't we all just get along?” Korra asks with a grin. She could really use a good fight.

“Not with this bending scum. Not when the Solution is so close.” The nonbender grins, a knife warily close to the other man’s throat.

Korra needs him to get that knife just a little further away and she could bend it away, “The solution? What are you talking about?”

He turns to her, pointing the weapon towards her, she raises her hand to bend the knife away, only for the other man to bend it away, Korra quickly bends as much water from the air as she can, shoving it at the man, freezing his ams to the wall, only for him to, pull away at the last second, jumping off the wall, mere inches away from Korra, she attempts to hit the man, only for him to chi block her completely, all the while dogging any of her hits. After he chi blocks both her legs, she falls, “First blood of our revolution,” he smiles, pulling her head up right, bringing the knife to her neck, starting to cut.

Before he can actually do any damage, blue and red fill the alleyway and police sirens cause ringing in Korra's ears. He chuckles, pulling her bandana and Hat away before throwing her to the ground and running off, two officers run after him, another two check on the other man, before starting to question him, one comes up to her, Korra vaguely feels him tap her shoulder, but she can't move, “You okay kid?” He asks.

She groans, opening her mouth to speak, “Yeah, can't bend, but better then I would be if you guys were a bit later.”

“Your neck doesn't look so hot, Kid,” he laughs softly, putting his hand over the minute cut, “Hey, chief, I'm thinking we could probably use an ambulance over here, for,” he trails off, “What's your name?”

Korra pauses for a minute, if the Chief of Police is here, she's Toph’s daughter, so is Su But then she didn't trust Su either, but she's too close to get sent back to that compound again, and she can't lose the freedom from the name Kira, “Rika,” a name of one of the White Lotus guards at the compound.

He nods, but doesn't tell his superior, “Well, you're safe now, Rika. Do you know what he wanted?”

Korra shakes her head, “I stepped in, the two of them were-” she groans as feeling starts to come back to her arms and legs, starting with pain, “I'd ask him, but honestly the guy seemed pretty crazy, wouldn't be surprised if it was just cause.”

•—•—•Present day•—•—•

Korra fiddles with her armband as they get closer and closer to the dock. The Acolyte thankfully quiets as they approach, because Korra may throw up if she speaks.

•—•—•6 months ago•—•—•

Korra's the only one in Toza’s gym, she's working on her aiming.

“You don't bend like a firebender,” a voice behind her says, she turns to see Mako leaning against the door frame, his bag slung over his back.

“Well, I'm bending fire, so,” she shrugs, Bolin’s sweet but his brother is a jerk.

“You're staying grounded, like an earthbender, and you're just as likely to turn it back on someone as dodge it, but then, the intensity, the acrobatics, that's all fire.”

“So I picked up tips from earth and waterbenders too. Did I break some super secret probending rule I didn't know about?” She smirks aiming for the targets hitting them again.

“It's what makes you so damned hard to hit,” Mako responds with a laugh, “If you were a waterbender I’d consider trading you for Hasook.”

Korra laughs, “I may have to take you up on that, Sharkbrows.”

“Want to practice? 1 on 1?” Mako asks.

Korra smiles, “You're on,” walking over to the sparing circle, Mako doing the same, “best two of three?”

“Either way you'll lose,” Mako shrugs.

“We'll see, start.” Korra smirks, bending away from his first two hits, just like he opens most his matches with.

“So, what's going on with you and Bolin?”

“Okay,” Korra smirks kicking at Mako, “One.) if you think for more than two seconds you can give a shovel talk that will actually scare me, I wish you luck. Two.) Nothing is going on between me and Bolin, I've been dating As-someone since about three days after I met you guys, your brother is my friend, so chill.” She smirks waiting til the next opening the firebender gives her, sending three bursts right into his side, enough to knock him close to the edge of the ring but not out.

“Okay, sorry,” Mako shakes his head, “Sorry, it's just ever since our parents…” he trails off before shaking his head, “So can you believe the arena is having us go head to head on the 16th week?” He laughs, “I mean, talk about pushing the rivalry angle.”

“The 16th week?” Korra frowns, “What do you mean?”

“Haven't you listened to a full season?” Mako laughs, getting a graze on her right side.

“I listened when I could, but the signal doesn't always get all the way down to the South Pole. Zaofu usually got them pretty clear, so we'd sometimes listen there. But no, I've never listened religiously.”

“The sixteenth week is rivalry week, Laogai and Ba Sing Se, Kyoshi Island and Chin, you know? And if you don't have a rival, they try to figure the closest to you in the running, it's one of the biggest nights of the week.”

She laughs, hitting him once more, knocking him out of the ring.

•—•—•Present Day•—•—•

The ferry runs into the dock, causing Korra to almost fall. After she catches her balance, she thanks the acolyte and steps onto the dock. When she gets onto the island, a voice gives her pause, “Who are you?” She turns.

•—•—•4 months Ago•—•—•

“That play was amazing, Asami,” Korra grins, “Avatar Aang’s life was so amazing, though they cut out some stuff, like his problem with Earthbending and the entirety of Chin and the Great Divide.” She lists off the most obvious ones.

“I didn't know you were such an Aang fan, Lightning,” Asami laughs, grabbing her girlfriend's hand as they walk through the streets of the city.

“Avatar more than Aang, I was taught about all the past Avatars when I was little, before I left the South Pole.”

“Oh? Who's your favorite, I've always liked Roku.”

“Kuruk has always been a favorite of mine. Kyoshi is pretty cool too.”

“The next incarnation will be learning their destiny soon, huh?” Asami states with a grin, “Can you imagine how crazy that'd be? To come of age then learn you can bend all the elements?”

“That you'll have the whole world on your shoulders. Everyone expecting you to not mess up.” Korra frowns, “but you're too young, why would a bunch of old politicians and masters listen to a 16 year old.”

Asami frowns, and opens her mouth to respond, only for an explosion to rock the street. Korra hears ringing in her ears as she looks around, the crashing and crackling continues as Korra spots where it's from, a apartment building, or what once was, it's now half rubble, the other half is on fire. She turns to Asami, “Find a way to radio the police, I'm going to go help,” she doesn't give Asami a chance to argue as she runs to the building, cutting through the fire in the doorway to get in.

•—•—•Present Day•—•—•

“I was looking for Master Tenzin, Chief Beifong told me I should come and see him today.” she looks at the girl, Jinora, she's grown, but Korra is certain it's Jinora, “Who are you?” She asks with a small smile.

•—•—•4 months ago•—•—•

“Come on, Sweetie, can I see your hand?” Korra asks the girl, hiding behind her mother's leg as the smoldering remains of the building are soaked behind them.

“Come on, Chee,” The girl's mother asks, “She wants to heal your burn, like papa did.”

The girl looks at her mother then Korra, before nodding and stepping out from behind her mother, “Can I see your arm, Chee?” Korra asks softly, grimacing at the burn, “Oh, Sweetheart, that looks like it hurts. Is it okay if I touch it?”

“Yeah,” the girl nods as sirens draw closer.

Korra nods, drawing some water to her hands, “Kay, this'll be a little cold,” she tells the girl before covering the majority of the girl's shoulder and arm, “So Chee, how old are you?”

“Six,” she grins, “Mama says I get to go to school this year.”

“Oh, that means you're a big girl, huh?” She's mostly finished with her shoulder, now onto the arm. The girl nods, looking down at the burn, tears welling up in her eyes. “That fire must've been scary, huh, Chee?” The girl shakes her head defiantly. “Really?” Korra asks feigning shock, “You weren't scared? Cause I was.”

Chee looks at her with a frown, “But you ran in, you helped people.”

Korra laughs softly, “That doesn't mean I wasn't scared, I just thought being brave was more important than being scared.” She finishes her upper arm and elbow, only a little left now

“Yeah,” Chee nods.

“Done,” Korra smiles, releasing the water back into the air, “All done, you were very brave, Chee.”

The girl nods but runs behind her mother as a firefighter comes up behind her, “Are you the girl who ran inside?”

Korra stands, half a head shorter than the man, and nods, “That's me.”

“Chief Beifong wants your statement.” He tells her, motioning to a line of fire trucks and police cars.

She nods, moving with him as he guides her to a woman in a metalbending uniform, talking to Asami, “Lightning,” Asami grins, but it's forced, she now knows I'm the Avatar, “I was so worried,” she pulls Korra into a hug, “I'm following your lead, we'll talk later.” Korra squeezes her tighter nodding slightly in agreement as the police chief clears her throat.

Her eyes narrow at Korra, “You've been showing up at far too many of my crime scenes lately, Kid.”

“Just lucky I guess,” Korra shrugs, “Considering everyone's alive and out of the building, I mean rubble, I think I did the right thing, Chief.”

“Remind me what it was you were doing here, Rika?”

“Well, I was with Asami, we had just finished watching a play. I was walking her home.”

Chief Beifong nods, but doesn't ask her or Asami anything else, “Just, try and stay out of trouble, and out of my way, kid. Now you two, go home.”

Korra debates arguing, she could still help, but Asami places her hand on Korra's arm, “Let's go back to my place and talk a bit, okay?”

Korra nods, allowing the heiress guide her soot covered face through the crowd before hailing a taxi.

•—•—•Present Day•—•—•

“I'm Jinora, and my dad's meditating, he’ll be awhile.”

Korra nods but frowns, “Is there somewhere I could wait for him without causing a disruption? I really need to talk to him as soon as possible.”

Jinora opens her mouth to respond, only to be interrupted, “Jinora? Who's that?” Pema comes out from one of the buildings, quickly approaching both of them, when she's almost to them, she recognizes Korra, as her face breaks into a smile, “Jinora, Sweetie, can you please go get your father, tell him it's very important.” She asks her eldest.

After the young Airbender leaves she turns to Korra, “Have you eaten anything today, Korra?” Raava that name sounds odd in public.

Korra shakes her head, “Felt too sick when I woke up, I came straight here.”

“Come on, Honey, I've got just the brew of tea for that while we wait for Tenzin.” The older woman puts her hand on Korra's shoulder with a gentle smile

Korra nods with a small smile, “Sounds great, Pema,” and she lets the Air Acolyte to lead her to one of the many buildings.

•—•—•Last Night•—•—•

The Probending Arena is on fire. Korra pushes the next door open, covering her mouth with one hand, putting the flames in the room out.

‘ _What's wrong Bolin.’_

She doesn't see anyone, moving to the next room, looking for anyone who’s trapped.

‘ _Mako, he’s not out, Kira.'_

She hears faint yelling from one of the rooms, she walks over to it, attempting to avoid fire, failing miserably but getting to the room, she freezes for a moment, this looks to be one of the changing rooms hit hardest, the entire room is engulfed by flames, Mako is in one corner, fending them off from Tahno, Ming and Shaozu are in the corner, covered by debris, if they’re alive, they’re certainly not conscious. Korra tries to quell the flames with her firebending but it doesn’t really seem to be working, after a moment, she turns to the window out to the arena, pulling as much water as she can into the room, dousing the fire.

‘ _I’ll go get him, keep the entrance open, Bolin.'_

“Kira? You’re-” Mako begins

“Later, Mako. You good to get out of here?” Korra cuts him off, bending and lifting the earth and wood and beams off the Wolfbats, freeing Shaoza first, after the Fire Ferret nods, Korra motions to the downed firebender, “The path from here to the main exit should be clear. Take him and go. Tell the firefighters there are still people down in the lower ring, but the stands look to be clear.”

Mako frowns, “And leave you? Not happening, Kira.”

“We can’t get all three of them, now, go get some help.” Korra responds continuing to clear the rubble.

Mako frowns, but nods, leaving the Avatar to free the remaining Wolfbats.

•—•—•Present Day•—•—•

Korra thanks Pema for the tea as they both sit down. Looking at her cup as it ripples in her shaking hands, Korra doesn’t hear Pema speak at first.

“We were so worried when you disappeared,” The mother frets, lookiing the Avatar over for any sign of injury, she has a fresh scar on her forehead, and her arm looks to have been burned even more recently, but otherwise, she looks well, calmer then she ever was in the care of the White Lotus, her hair pulled back into a braid, wearing a Water Tribe shirt but Earth Kingdom pants, a metal armband snaking along her upper arm, half hidden behind the shirt, “The White Lotus looked for you all over the world, Tenzin, Lord Zuko, Kya all helped look for you, and no one found a trace, we heard stories here and there, but they all turned out to be false.”

“Well, I didn’t want to be found,” Korra states with a frown, before forcing herself to take a deep breath, she needs to trust Tenzin and she needs to trust him, “I’m sorry people spent so long looking.”

“You spent almost five years not wanting to be found, Korra.” Pema smiles softly, “Why are you coming to talk to Tenzin now?”

Korra sighs, “Three elements are fine for dealing with thugs, but these Equalists… I can’t just do nothing, they’re hurting people, they’re killing people. I have to do something, and to be able to do something, I need to learn Airbending. So I may not trust the White Lotus, but here I am.”

•—•—•Last Night•—•—•  
  
As she pulls Ming out of the rubble finally, she hears other people walking closer to her, she can still see smoke from the other side of the building, but this side is pretty much out. In comes several police and firefighters, one of which is Lin, her arms crossed as some people help Tahno and Ming out as Lin turns to Korra, "You-" Lin pauses looking the girl in the center of the damage, then frowns, "Check for damage," she orders her officers before taking a step closer to the girl, now between Korra and the door, "I assume your name isn't actually Rika, or Kira?" She half growls as Korra looks herself over, a bad burn on her right arm, she runs her hand across her cheek, crimson is now on her knuckle, she follows the trail up to her temple.

Korra slowly shakes her head, “My name, my name is Korra,” she bends a small flame into her palm before bending water to put the flame out, then bending a pipe from the floor, “And I'm the Avatar.”

Lin nods then frowns, “We've been looking for you for quite awhile, kid.”

Korra nods, her head pounding as she attempts to listen to the police chief, she takes a step towards the exit, needing some fresh air, stumbling, she catches herself from falling on one of the bleachers. She brushes at the sweat on her forehead, she looks at her hand, it's covered in crimson, she frowns, blinking a couple times.

Korra feels a hand on her shoulder, she looks up to see Chief Beifong has her hand on her shoulder, her lips are moving, she needs to listen, "…okay, Avatar?" Korra frowns.

What is she asking She scrunches her brow, she opens her mouth to answer, "Yeah, Yeah, I'm fine," she lies carefully stepping past the chief of police.

"Avatar, what are you doing." Chief Beifong asks.

"Korra, I let this happen, I'm no Avatar. People need help, I already fucked up, but I can still do that. So I'm gonna go help them." Korra tells the police chief.

As she stumbles closer to the exit, she bend some water from one of the fountain to wipe off some of the blood off her face. The cut is still oozing blood but not near as bad as it had just been. When she gets to the doorway, she sees complete chaos, but before she can force them to stop, everyone goes silent, looking at her. It lasts but a moment before a reporter asks, “Is it true? Are you the Avatar?”

Korra takes a deep breath and nods, “I'm your Avatar, my name is Korra, and whoever did this,” she motions to the Probending Arena, “Whether it be any of the triads, Equalists, or someone else, they will be caught, and justice will prevail. Republic City is strong, and we will not bow to people trying to spread fear.”

•—•—•Present Day•—•—•

After several minutes, Tenzin comes sweeping into the room, “What is it, Pema? Jinora said it was important.” He doesn't see Korra until she stands. “Korra?”

She nods, “I need you to teach me airbending,” she sighs, “please.”


	18. Chapter 18

Korra was not unknown as a probender, in fact her and Mako were probably the most known from  
the rookie teams. So she was expecting some press when she admitted herself to be the Avatar, not this dog and pony show- it's been 6 weeks, don't they have somewhere else to be, someone else to bother. She gets on her Satocycle and rides away from them.

The ride to the Sato mansion is one she knows quite well. Almost twenty minutes after she leaves Air Temple Island she pulls up to the gate, taking her helmet off to show the guard who she is, who nods and lets her in without any though, after almost a year, she knows all the guards.

She parks in front of the garage before making the long trek to the front door, knocking, and having the butler open the door for her, “Ms. Sato is in the garage Avatar Korra.”

Korra nods, “Did she say no visitors?” If she's working on a project, she's very likely to be working through something, so not even she may be allowed to see her girlfriend at the moment.

“She says you're welcome in any time.” The butler responds, motioning for her in before guiding Korra to Asami’s work space even though Korra knows her way after just under a year of dating, though somehow despite that, there's only been rumors of them dating in a few of the seedier magazines, though Korra being the Avatar, anything and everything is fair game, so they're both sure their bubble of privacy will pop any day now.

When she enters the room, it's as messy as usual, and Asami is looking at a blueprint, though is quickly getting shoved into a drawer in favor of a small engine just as Korra opens the door, though that too is forgotten as she turns her attention to Korra, “Hello, my love,” she walks around the desk and kisses her on both cheeks then her lips, “What brings you here?” She grins.

“Well, my dear,” Korra gives her a crooked grin, “I was wondering what you were planning next month?”

“Well,” Asami laughs, pulling Korra towards the benches, both of them sitting on the sawdust, “I have your and the boys probending matches, and our anniversary, your birthday, why?”

“Well,” Korra looks around the room, “What do you think that we come out to the press after our anniversary, before my birthday?”

Asami laughs slightly, “Why then?”

“Stupid Councilman Tarlok made a gala for what should have been my first revealing of the Avatar. I'm quickly growing to like Chief Beifong as she's the only one who doesn't like this. But Anyway, if I have to go to this gala, I'd like for you to be my official date for it, not just best friend.”

“That sounds great, Korra,” Asami grins.

“You sure you're okay with us coming out publicly?” Korra asks running her hand through Asami’s hair.

“We've had almost a year to ourselves, that's more than I ever thought we'd get, now I'm not sure how much longer we'll have, may as well be out on our terms.”

“Six weeks then no more secrets,” Korra smiles, kissing Asami quickly, “Want to go celebrate?”

Asami shakes her head, “I actually have a bunch of stuff to do before tonight, dad wants me to help him with some meeting,” she kisses the Avatar's cheek, “But you can have me all to yourself tomorrow.”

“I'll count the hours.” Korra responds as Asami stands, “Want me out of your hair?”

“You know I always love having you here, Korra,” she smiles, “But honestly, I have a bunch to do and it'll be pretty boring for you, so, maybe not?”

“Okay, call me if you need me.” Korra nods, standing up, “I'll go hang out with everyone at the apartment.”

“I love you, darling.” Asami calls over her shoulder.

“Love you more, Sunshine.”

“Not possible.” Asami responds, causing Korra to laugh as she leaves the room.

As soon as she knows Korra is out of the house, she pulls the blueprints back out, she needs to get this done soon.

•••••

She gets to the apartment building easily enough, running up the four flights before knocking on apartment 417 before putting her key in and unlocking it.

“Hey, Avatar Korra,” Aden grins as Mako turns down the radio, the Bending Brothers had moved into the apartment after the attack at the arena, Yuna and Aden wanting them to move in as Korra mostly moving out, Korra has spent most nights at Asami’s or Air Temple Island, only spending one night a week at the apartment on the couch, Bolin and Mako having taken her room. Yuna and Aden are preparing to leave in three months, back home for Yuna and to the South Pole to learn more healing training under Kya and Katara, he had gotten the apprenticeship with a little help from Tenzin, but mostly from his healing excellence after the attack at the arena.

Korra laughs, “Come on Aden, no need for the title.”

“How's airbending training?” He then asks as Korra sits down in the seat closest to the kitchen.

“I finally got through the gates, and I can meditate much better then Tenzin feared.” Korra groans, “But actual air bending, the gusts I've gotten aren't powerful enough to move a leaf.”

“But you are moving air?” Mako asks.

“Yeah, we've checked in a totally windless room, it's weak but it's there. I can feel the air around me, it's just no where near as alive as fire, water, earth or even metal.”

“You must've had problems with the other elements, what did you do then?” Aden asks.

“I haven't had problems with something so basic as the bending itself, I was bending the other three elements at age 4, mastered water by 9, healing by 10, Earth and metal by 12, fire by 14. I've never had wisje these types of problems, Aden.”

The firebender nods, “How about Aang?” Mako asks, “Or any of your other past lives, have you tried talking to them?”

Korra sighs, “I've seen Aang a few times, never when I wasn't in danger or anything, the fight at Makapu was the last time.” She runs her hand through her hair, “I don't suppose it could hurt.” She looks around the apartment, “Where are Yuna and Bolin?”

“They were going down to Harmony Park for something.” Aden shrugs, “Didn't say what.”

Korra nods, “When did they say they'd be back?”

Mako looks at the clock before frowning, “Almost two hours ago,” he looks around, “We should go check on them.”

“Yeah, Yuna would never be this late unless something really bad happened.”

“And Bolin would definitely get into trouble.” Mako says pulling his coat on.

“Here, give me a moment before we go in aiming to kill,” Korra keeps her cool, going to the radio and calling the police station.

“Chief Beifong.” The voice on the other end growls.

“Hey, Chief Beifong, have you had any major attacks at or near Harmony Park.”

“You want to know before you play hero?”

“Thought I'd ask before I went in half cocked, if you had something happen and now have it under control I'll tell Mako and Aden to call down, but Yuna and Bolin, we think they may have gotten into some trouble, I was just wondering if we went and started looking for them, would we be getting in your way?” Korra chews her lip as she waits for a response.

“No, Avatar, we haven't had anything happen near the park today. Would you like to file a missing person’s report?”

Korra sighs, “No, Chief, I think we're gonna look ourselves, we'll call and let you know if we find anything major or that needs the police.”

“Avatar, don't you dare make a mess I'm going to have to clean up. If you do, Master Tenzin, not even the Avatar State, will be able to save you, understand?”

“Yes, Chief,” Korra nods before hanging up with a frown. She turns to the boys, “nothing is going on down at the park, I think they could be in trouble, let's go.” She grabs her helmet, “I'll make a run around the park, you see if you can find someone who saw where they went.”

The boys nod, Aden grabbing the keys to Yuna’s car, then Korra frowns getting an idea, “How much trouble would Naga cause around town?”

“You think she could find them?” Aden smiles.

“I'll ask Tenzin to bring her in to town,” Korra nods as they leave the apartment.

•••••

They didn't find either of them despite checking the park four times.

“Have you heard of the revolution, girl?” A voice tells Korra.

She thinks where has she heard that before, then it hits her, that Equalist, he had said the revolution is approaching, he wanted to kill her and the man, that could be something, “No, I haven't, what is it?”

He hands her a handful of pamphlets, “Come tonight and see what he can do. He'll remove the bending scum from our city.”

Korra debates telling the man what she thinks about his ‘revolution’ but then this is the closest thing they have to a lead. So instead she nods and walks away, papers gripped tightly in her hands, she taps Aden’s shoulder, “Meet me at the island.” She tells him before continuing to her bike, putting the papers in her bag before driving away, hoping Tenzin knows anything.”

•••••

“Korra!” Ikki’s voice yells as they get to Air Temple Island.

“Hey, Ikki,” she smiles shifting the bag on her shoulder as the young girl gives her a hug, “Mako, Aden, this is Ikki, she's Tenzin’s daughter.” She tells the boys who haven't visited the island more than twice to pick her up.

“Are you here for training? It's so much more fun when you're here.”

Korra sighs, “Not today, Ikki, we actually need to talk to your dad.” They young girl frowns, “How about I stay tonight and tomorrow night? Then I'll train with you guys both days as long as I can. Okay?” They really need to talk to Tenzin ASAP.

“Okay,” Ikki nods, “Daddy's in his office,”

Korra nods motioning for the boys to follow her. She walks to one of the buildings, walking down the hall and knocking on one of the several doors, “Come in.”

Korra slides the door open, taking the papers out of her bag, “Tenzin,” she begins as Mako closes the door behind them, “What do you know about the Equalists?”

“Why are you looking into these people, Korra?” Tenzin asks looking over the flyers.

“Please, Councilman Tenzin, we think they took My sister,” Aden answers.

“And my brother, Bolin, sir.” Mako adds.

Tenzin nods, looking back to Korra, “have you talked to Lin?”

“Not since we got the idea of the Equalists being behind this, we had hoped that perhaps the council knows something about them? I've only ran across them once or twice and never for very long.”

“We've heard of them, Tarlok wants to brand them as terrorists, but so far, they seem to be a rather extreme political group.” Tenzin sighs, “I'll make some calls,” he hands her back the flyers, “Can you kids go wait out on the pavilion, I'll be there as soon as I can.”

“Yes, Master Tenzin,” Mako agrees, opening the door for the rest of them to leave. When they get there, he sighs, “Could I see those papers, Korra?”

“Yeah,” Korra grabs them back out of her bag, “They just have a time, no location,” Korra runs her hand through her hair, sighing with her eyes closed, before opening them, her blue eyes alight with fire as she punches one of the beams of the pavilion, “Damn it!” She yells, sending the papers to the ground.

“What's that?” Aden asks picking up the paper with a bright red dot on the back.

Mako picks up another paper, “I think that's where they took Bolin and Yuna.” He explains, flipping all the papers over, and organizing them like puzzle pieces, “It's a map,” He states.

“Looks like down, southern docks, right?”

Mako nods, “That's where I'm going.”

“Me too,” Aden nods.

“No way you're going without me.” Korra gives a slasher grin, no one messes with her friends without getting the Avatar on them.

Mako nods, “Okay, let's go.”

•••••

Stand tall, Korra reminds herself, walking next to Aden, in front of Mako, Don't let them know you're afraid. Korra looks around the crowd is bigger then she thought it'd be, but not big enough that they should be causing as much trouble as they are.

“Your savior, you hero, your leader, Amon.” A voice announces like it's a probending match, Korra and Aden look up to the stage as Mako continues scanning for Yuna and Bolin.

The coward hides behind a mask as he tells his story, a typical story that Korra herself has stopped from happening before to benders and nonbenders alike, she unconditionally slips off her shoe, ‘When people lie,’ Su had explained, ‘Their heartbeats speed up,’ What's the harm in trying to figure if this psycho in a mask is lying?

“As many of you know, the Avatar has recently arrived in our city, playing vigilante against our revolution by night, and making herself one with the bending elite by day.” The man walks closer to the edge of the stage, “If she were here, she'd tell you bending brings balance.” Korra notices a platform begin to rise behind him, “The spirits themselves know she is wrong, it's been the cause of every war in every era, the cause of innumerable deaths and unspeakable tragedy! The Avatar has failed humanity!” She slips her shoe back on, the platform is wooden, it's no help even trying.

“The spirits gave me a gift, away to rid the world of bending scum!” He turns to the platform, five people tied up and forced to kneel, Yuna is in the center of the line, and Bolin's at the end. All of them struggling at their bindings.

“I don't need to know the rest of the speech,” Aden whispers in her and Mako’s ear, “This guy's insane and we have to get Yuna and Bolin off there.”

Mako nods, “I'll get them, you two, find a distraction.”

Korra nods, motioning to some pipes, “Think we could make a mess with those, A?”

“I got your back, Korra,” the younger boy nods as they slip through the crowd.

“Lightning Bolt Zolt!” Amon introduces him like almost everyone in Republic City didn't know him, “One of Republic Cities most notorious thugs, he made his fortune by extorting us nonbenders! Now, to be fair, we'll give him a chance to fight.”

The Triple Threat Triad leader rolls his shoulder, before sending several bursts of fire Amon’s way, but the man in the mask dodges all off the Triad boss’s blast, and even steps around the deadly lightning, forcing Zolt to his knees, putting a single finger to the firebender’s head as the lightning fades, turning to fire for a moment before fizzling out all together.

“What did you do to me?” The man demands as Aden pulls Korra towards the pipes.

“I took your bending away, permanently. The revelation has begun!”

Korra snaps out of her haze as Aden looks to her, “Can you break them?” Aden demands.

Korra nods, “They're metal, watch me work.” She pulls huge chunks of the pipe out, causing steam to come pouring out.

“That's great, Kor-” the sound of lightning is all Korra can hear as the boy drops to the ground.

“I can't let you mess with the Revolution, Avatar,” the synthetic voice growls, before kicking at Korra.

The Avatar easily dodges, using the steam to pin the Equalist’s arm to the wall, using metal for their feet, another piece of metal for their throat as Korra pins them to the wall. Before she can get the final limb down she feels a shock, forcing herself to stand she pins the Equalist’s other arm with ice. She then uses the steam to break down the door, covering the entire crowd and more importantly the stage as Amon fights Yuna, “Who are you,” she demands, pulling at the mask, “No,” she mutters as all too familiar green eyes look back at her. She tears the metal band away, “Asami?” She demands.

The older girl drops her head for a moment before looking into Korra's blue eyes, using everything in her power not to let the tears get to her, “I'm sorry. Korra, please, I can explain,”

Korra hears people coming her way, she shakes her head at the elder girl, “No,” she picks up Aden, grateful that the boy hadn't yet grown that much taller than her then runs out of the building to near where the car was.

“When will you benders learn? Your time is up.” One of Amon’s little henchmen growls over the semi conscious Bending Brothers and Yuna, Korra sees red as she props Aden up against one of the walls, before earthbending the Equalists into a wall, sending flames in his direction as Mako and Bolin stand, helping Yuna into the car, Bolin slipping in after her, Mako jumping in the passenger seat.

“I wouldn't count us out just yet,” Korra tells the man as she puts Aden in the car, Bolin pulling him in the rest of the way as Korra jumps into the driver’s seat, thankfully the police station isn't that far, and about two miles closer then the ferry or hospital, and almost 5 miles closerthan the apartment, so as fast as she can without crashing into someone, that's where she heads.

Praying they can get there before the Equalists on their Satocycles can stop them. She looks at the radio Asami had installed, ‘just in case,’ the other girl probably bugged the radio, but they have no other choice. She tosses the speaker to Mako, “Call Beifong, Sharkbrows, let her know we have some stuff she'd probably like to know.” She tells him, almost there, almost there. The Satocycles break away as the station comes into sight, two people waiting out front as she pulls into the front of the station.

“Avatar Korra,” one of the officers waiting in front of the station starts as Korra jumps out of the Car, ignoring the burning pain in her side, and heart and eyes, though she's sure the last two are purely emotional, in favor of checking on her friends, Aden has thankfully opened his eyes, “Hey Aden, how you feeling?” She asks softly, on the opposite side of the car from him.

“Like I was just fried. Other then that, never better, Avatar,” he gives her a thumbs up, “What about you, Bo?”

“Little shocked,” he grins, “We're at the police station?”

“Yeah,” Korra nods as the officers open the door and help the teens out of the car, “You okay, Yuna?”

She shakes her head as Mako and Bolin look at the ground, “What happened?” Korra asks, steadying Yuna on her feet.

“I was too late, Korra,” Mako says.

“He took my bending. I can't bend, Korra.” Yuna says leaning into Korra's arm, letting the Avatar take most her weight.

“We'll figure this out,” she promises, “There's no way he was telling the truth, we can fix it. We'll tell Chief Beifong what we know, we'll go get some sleep, then we'll find a way to fix this.”

Yuna nods into Korra's shoulder, because when the Avatar makes a promise, who is she to argue.

“You kids look horrible,” the police chief says as they limp into the conference room, Korra can't argue, Yuna is this close to passing out on Korra's shoulder, and Aden isn't much better on the officer’s shoulder, Mako’s eye is quickly blackening as is Bolin's jaw, Korra's not sure how she looks but she's sure she doesn't look much better.

“We found them,” Korra forces a small smile as she sits down across from her.

“And?”

“And if you don't already you'll very quickly gain a huge headache in the form of these Equalists, Chief.” Bolin answers.

“Their leader, he calls himself Amon, he can remove people's bending, he claims it's permanent.” Korra states with a frown.

“Do you know anyone other than Amon? Did you see anyone we could get anything from?” Lin demands, suddenly interested.

“No.”

“Nope.”

“No one.”

“No.”

Korra pauses, debating for a split second, “No one that I saw.”

Lin nods before standing, “Then let's get you kids cleaned up,” she motions to one of the officers still in the room, “Call councilman Tenzin, tell him he best come pick up the Avatar and her friends.”

“Yes, ma'am,” he nods before leaving.

 


	19. Chapter 19

"Have you been up all night, Korra?"

A voice behind her causes her to jump, Korra turns to face Tenzin, "It was a full moon, couldn't sleep," she half lies, brushing her hair behind her ear, "I did a handful of laps around the island, push ups, sit ups, pull ups, tea, meditation, I even tried working on my airbending, nothing tired me out enough for me to sleep, so I've just been walking around," she shrugs.

"Your side wasn't fully healed last night, Korra, you shouldn't put so much strain on it."

Korra lifts her airbending shirt just a bit, "I finished healing it. Besides, it wasn't that strenuous," she pops all the fingers on her hand as she continues, "And a little pain is nothing."

He sighs, "I know that last night was traumatic for all of you, but you can't stop taking care of yourself."

She shakes her head, "It's not that, Tenzin, well not specifically that, and I mean I would normally talk to Asami, but I really can't, and I can't tell the others. And Kuvira's in Zaofu and she won't be calling me for a few days and by then," she sighs and runs her hands harshly through her hair.

Tenzin sighs, debating offering his listening skills before shaking his head, Korra may tenuously trust him as a master, but whatever this is she wants, no needs, to talk to someone she trusts completely. He also vaugly notes that one of those people are in Zaofu, he wonders if Korra knows Su well or if Lin knows the Avatar quite likely knows her little sister and her family, doubtful as she may not like the young Avatar, she's nowhere near as aggressive towards her as she is with anyone or anything tied to Suyin Beifong. He pulls on his robes, "You can use the radio in my office, call, what did you say, Kuvira, see if she can help you work through this. Then meditation and breakfast, sound good?"

He smiles hoping this may be part of the olive branch that'll get the Avatar to truly trust him and work with him completely in her training, she refuses to live full time on the island, spending her time between there, The Sato mansion, and her and her friend's apartment. She also absolutely refused and White Lotus protection.

"You're sure, Tenzin?" She holds back a grin, trying to hide the excitement from her voice.

"Yes, whatever happened last night, you have to work through it before it affects other facets of your life," Tenzin sends her a look, "especially your training."

"The training, at the moment is my number one priority," Korra defends.

"At the moment?" Tenzin raises an eyebrow as they enter the building with Tenzin's office.

"If the Equalists… of this goes the way I think it may, I'm the Avatar, I mean I have to help." Korra takes a small step away from him, "I know that that's what you and my dad wanted when you decided to set up that compound, but I can't just sit around and do nothing."

Tenzin opens his mouth to argue, then shakes his head, opening his office.

"I'm sorry, that was out of line." Korra sighs.

Tenzin nods, "I trust you know how to use the radio, after you're done, I'd like to talk to you."

Korra nods getting the feeling this won't be a particularly happy conversation.

After Tenzin leaves the room, Korra grabs the reciver, taking a deep breath, she dials.

"Hello?" The voice is tired and irritated but only those who knew Kuvira would be able to hear it. 

"Kuvira," she checks despite knowing the guard's voice.

"Korra?" Suddenly any sleepiness or irritation is gone from the earthbender's voice, "What's wrong?"

"Please tell me I didn't wake you, Vira." She suddenly remembers how early it is.

"Nah, I just got home from the night shift." She hears Kuvira shift on the other end of the line, "Now come on, Avatar, what's wrong?"

"Why do you think something's wrong, Vira?" Korra still feels sick over what she learned last night, she knows she needs a new perspective but a part of her own mind can hardly comprehend the past 24 hour.

"If nothing's wrong, Korra, as much as I love hearing your voice, I'm going to hang up and try and get some sleep cause I don't think I've actually slept in like two, three days," Kuvira laughs, "But in all honestly, Korra, I know you well enough to know when something big is wrong. You sound like crap, Avatar. So what happened in the last few days? You were fine on Friday."

"Bolin and Yuna were taken by the Equalists yesterday." Korra begins with the easiest of yesterday's events to explain.

"I thought you said they were beating up people in allies, since when did they start kidnapping people?" Kuvira demands.

"I'm not sure, but their psycho leader, I don't know if it's actually from the spirits, or energy bending or an extended form of chi blocking or what but he claims he can take people's bending, permanently."

"No one but the Avatar-"

"Should be able to do that? I'd've told you that 24 hours ago too, but I saw him do it, he took Yuna's."

"Korra, I'm sure that it's fine, he's probably all talk, you'll find a way to fix it if it's not. There's no way it's truly permanent."

"I know I'll find a way to fix it, but, Kuvira, there's more, Asami, she's one of them. She's an Equalist."

"What?!" Korra can hear Kuvira's now standing, pulling on the phone wire, "You have to be fucking kidding me, Korra, what happened?"

"Me and Aden, we were making a distraction for Mako to get Bolin and Yuna away, and we got caught by an Equalist, after they put Aden on the ground, I pinned them, pulled off their mask, it was Asami."

"Fucking damn it," Korra may be unsure how she should react but Kuvira has gone straight to anger.

"We all got out in mostly one piece, Vira." Korra attempts to calm the other girl even just a little.

She hears the other girl sigh, "What happened next? Did she say anything?"

"She said she could explain, that she was sorry. I didn't really let her talk, I picked up Aden and got out of there.”

“Are you planning on talking to her? Because I swear Avatar if you plan on talking to her. Especially if you go talk to her, the one who works for, in your own words, a psycho who wants to remove all benders bending, at best, alone. I will come up there and kill you myself. Did you tell chief Beifong?

“Gee thanks, Vira, death by your hands will be so swift.” Korra half laughs, “And no, I didn't tell her, you're the first person I've told”

“I only say it because I love you. And I know you have neigh on suicidal tendencies. Exhibit A you didn't tell anyone about your ex I hope Girlfriend being part of a group whose goals would aline with killing you.” Kuvira laughs a bit before sighing, “You think you're in over your head, Korra? Need me to come be your backup?”

“Okay, one you are not one to judge my suicidal tendencies, two aren't you needed in Zaofu?

“You're more important to me then any job, and at this point, Su hasn't made me Captain or anything, I could take a couple weeks off, Raava knows I won't use it otherwise. So I could come, keep you from running into burning buildings. If all else fails, I could be the Metal Clan's representative for your 16th birthday, revealing she's the Avatar gala. That's kinda useless as you've known since you were like 4 and everyone else knows because you run into said burning buildings and reveal yourself without really caring.”

“No, please don't come, Vira, at the moment my main focus has to be airbending, and hopefully the Avatar state. If the Equalists keep getting worse, I'll let you know and if you still want to come up, I won't stop you.”

“Korra,” Kuvira sighs, “Please, don't do something stupid that'll get you hurt or killed. Please.”

“I'll play it safe, Vira, I promise.” Korra agrees.

“And tell me what Asami says when you talk to her.”

“Didn't you say you'd kill me if I went to talk to her?”

“Yeah, but you've always been more willing to give second chances and you've always wanted to know why more than me, thus I know no threats will guarantee you'll not try and talk to her if you think it's even remotely safe.” Kuvira sighs, “So, please, don't get hurt or killed.” She begs again.

“Hey, come on, I won't, stop worrying so much.” Korra scratches the back of her neck, leaning with a grin against the wall.

“I love you, Avatar. Of course I'm gonna worry, you're the person I'm closest to in the world.”

“Hmm,” Korra smirks, “How long did you say it had been since you slept?”

“Are you saying I need sleep, Avatar?”

“I'm saying I'm gonna let you go get some sleep, if you don't, I will sic Su or someone on you to make you sleep, understand, Captain?”

“Not captain yet, Avatar. But I'll go sleep. Morning Avatar, love you.”

“Love you too, Vira, get some sleep.”

Korra herself is actually starting to feel her own lack of sleep start to hit as she hangs up the receiver. Instead she rolls her shoulders before standing up and leaving the room, starting her search for Tenzin.

She finds her airbending master not far from his office, “Tenzin?” She asks as she gets closer.

“Korra, did your friend help you?”

Korra nods, “Vira’s always been good at calming me down and making me think more logically.”

“And you met this girl…” he trails off letting Korra fill in the blank. He starts walking towards the courtyard, Korra falling into step beside him.

“Only a few days after I left the South Pole, she taught me how to earthbend and metalbend. She joined the guard in Zaofu almost as soon as she turned 16, so about a year ago. But I get the feeling you didn't want to talk to me to talk about Kuvira.”

He grabs a box from the railing, “Your parents sent this for you. They'd like to see you, Korra.”

She first takes the letter from the top of the, her name in her mother's unchanged handwriting on the front of the card, after a split second debate, she slips the envelope in her pocket. She then looks at the box, it's made of dark wood, the Water Tribe symbol burnt into the lid. She opens the lid to two knives, both platinum, they were the ones Sokka and Katara had given to her for her tenth birthday. The water tribe symbol on both the hilts as she carefully picks them up. She grins softly, “They sent these up?”

Tenzin nods, “They were the ones most against the compound, but there were circumstances beyond anyone's control.”

Korra shakes her head, “That doesn't change what happened, Tenzin. Nor the fact that they, that everyone lied to me.” She puts the knives back in the box, “With these Equalists running around, they shouldn't come up here. And I really can't leave. When everything calms down, maybe.” She shrugs.

Tenzin sighs but nods, “I'll let them know next time I talk to Tonraq.”

Korra nods, “I'll go get Yuna for breakfast, we'll probably stay at the apartment tonight, or at least the others will, I promised Ikki I'd stay at least one more night.”

Tenzin nods, “You and your friends are always welcome here, Korra.”

“Thank you, Tenzin,” Korra nods before leaving.

•••••

Korra places the box on the desk in the Rome on Air Temple Island, the kids and Pema and Tenzin calls it her room but Korra's not sure she's here often enough, honestly Asami’s room at the mansion feels more like home.

After changing clothes and putting the envelope on the bed, she walks to the door, only to jump slightly as she sees Jinora standing in front of her door, “What's up, Jinora?” She asks with a grin.

“Your girlfriend is at the dock,” the eleven year old says quietly, not quite looking Korra in the eye.

“Asami?” Korra asks keeping her face blank.

“Yes,” the Airbender nods.

“Okay,” Korra nods, “Tell your dad I'll be a little late for breakfast, I'm gonna go talk to her.”

“Mom and Dad said to invite her to breakfast if she wants,” The younger girl tells her before leaving.

Korra takes a deep breath before taking the too long yet all too short trip to the dock. She sees Asami before the heiress sees her. The heiress looks up from the ground, a minute smile pulls on her lips as she sees the Avatar, “Hey.”

“Asami.” Korra responds, looking around to see several acolytes.

“Please, Korra. Please let me try and explain to you…” she seems to notice all the other people around as she sighs, brushing a loose lock of hair behind her ear.

Korra closes her eyes, sighing as she debates saying no, but Kuvira's right, she needs to know the why. “Yeah, come on, let's go to the cliff.” She motions, they'd talked there several times before, but there's never ever been this tension between them.

“So, and I'm just spitballing here," Korra begins, looking over the cliff face, kicking several pebbles into the waves below, bending them even further, "you were told by your dad or that Amon or whoever to befriend me, to get close to me or my friends or whoever so you can snap the trap around our necks and at best take our endings, though honestly, death seems the more likely option.” Korra spits out holding back the better part of her anger.

“At first you were right. The fact that we met in the first place was chance, but my dad, and Amon, they knew your name, they figured you were the Avatar. So my dad made it clear, I was to get close to you, however I could. When we got back to Republic City, my dad introduced me to Amon, I had already met some of the Equalists, Dad hired them to train me in self defense. And he, the way Amon talked, it was the anniversary of my mom's death and the way he talked, it was at that point it was a political movement, he said he wanted to take some of the triad’s power, give the city back to the people.”

Asami sighs, “When I met you, all I knew was that you were a powerful firebender, I didn't know you were the Avatar until well after we started dating. And when we started, it was fake, I will admit, but by the time of the apartment, when you ran in without second thought to yourself, I realized I wasn't faking anymore.” She pauses, letting out a bitter laugh, “You're being very kind to listen to me go on, you don't really care.” Asami looks over Republic City and Yue Bay, “You never have been one for words, only action. So I'll promise you this, you, and our friends will not be in danger if I can help it, and I will help you take down Amon, what he wants to do is not right.”

“Are you gonna stop?” Korra asks as Asami finishes her rant.

Asami shakes her head, crossing her arms across her chest, looking anywhere but the Avatar. “There's too much at play, I can't, at least not yet.” Korra can't help but see the bruise from the ice on her wrists peeking out from under her business suit sleeves. She also notes the one on her neck and pauses, the metal wasn't tight enough to do that.

“You lied to me, for over a year.” Korra states, “Did you know that you guys had Yuna and Bolin?” Korra's done listening, now she's mad, “That your savior, your hero, took Yuna’s bending? And would've done the same to Bolin if it took two seconds longer for me to do that distraction.” She starts pacing, “or is your care only extended to me?" She scoffs "cause if last night was you caring, I'm terrified of you hate, Asami.”

“I didn't know what they were planning last night, and if I had I wasn't involved in getting the benders for Amon, that was all the Lieutenant.” The heiress explains, both hands over her heart.

Korra nods, running her hands through her hair, “The attack at the apartment and the Probending Arena, do you know if those were the Equalists?" Asami looks at the ground, Korra sighs and nods slowly. "Thought so."

“Korra!” A voice says as Ikki comes into view, Korra shifts her body between Asami and the Airbender, “Mom and Dad want to know if you and Asami are coming to breakfast!”

Korra nods, "Okay, Ikki, be there in a minute," she then sighs, “I think you should go, Asami.” She breathes, frowning.

“Yeah,” Asami nods, starting to walk past Korra to the docks, catching Korra's shoulder before the Avatar can start walking towards Ikki. She attempts to hide her frown as she sees the Avatar flinch, only just, under her touch, “I swear, Korra, I wasn't lying. I promise to help you take the Equalists down.”

Korra nods, not fully believing her.

Asami nods sadly, starting to walk back towards the dock, “Hey, Asami,” Korra calls weakly, “I don't know if you were distracted last night or what, but that's not how you usually spar,” Korra gives a small smile.

Asami forces a ghost of a smile at the words, their Korra's benefit of the doubt, and that she can live with, she'll do whatever it takes to regain her friends and Korra's trust again.


	20. Chapter 20

"Nice dress, Korra," Bolin grins as she comes back from the city, the boys are in the apartment as she comes in, putting it on the back of a chair.

"Thanks Bo, I need to dress up for this stupid Gala," she rolls her eyes, it's 5 days away and she's already over it and Tarrlok's bullshit.

"What does Asami think of it?" the earthbender asks, and suddenly Mako's interested in the conversation, Korra hasn't told them about Asami being an Equalist, as far as they know, they're just fighting.

"Don't know," Korra shrugs.

"Is she coming?" Mako asks.

"To the gala?" She shrugs again, "I assume her dad's invited."

"She's not going with you?" Bolin frowns.

"You guys are still fighting?" Mako adds.

Korra gives them a small smile, "It's complicated." She walks around the table, "besides, it's not like this stupid gala is necessary."

"Well," Bolin stands with a crooked grin, "If you'd like, Do you want me to be your kinda sorta date escort person to your totally unneeded Avatar Gala?"

Korra nods, smiling softly, "Sure, Bolin." She nods, "Sounds great."

•••••

Even if Korra wasn't sure about going with Bolin, she's thrilled now, feeling his steady arm under her hand as he grins and waves at the press. She herself smiles and answers a few questions before eventually getting inside the hall.

"You're good with the press, Bo," Korra grins, "They like you."

Boilin laughs, "Yeah, they do, huh?" He shifts as Korra guides him to one of the tables, "uh, here, let me, let me get your coat?"

It's fine, Bolin," she lies the jacket on the back of the chair, "So, in all honesty, I'm already ready to leave, Tarrlok is doing this to try to make me join his moronic task force, but Tenzin says we have to stay for at least a few hours." She looks around seeing only a few familiar faces, "Most these people are here to say they talked to the Avatar," she looks to him, "You and the others, feel free to interrupt however possible as I try to play nice."

"Avatar Korra," no sooner does she finish then a too friendly hand lands on her shoulder, pulling her away from Bolin, "I've been dying to talk to you. Rina, I'm on the council for…"

Korra really tries pay attention as she is passed from governor to councilman to prince. After almost an hour and a half of that, she excuses herself after a discussion of the great province of Xi, "I'm sorry, I'm going to go get some air, excuse me." She ducks away, finding a empty balcony, she sighs in relief, resting her arms on the cool marble, looking out on the night lights of Republic City."

"You know," a figure leans next to her, "I may be wrong, but my mother told me you shouldn't duck out on your own party, Avatar Korra."

"This is Councilman Tarrlok's party, my name is just on it Baatar And ," Korra grins, turning to face him, "Hello, by the way."

He laughs, "Hello to you too, Korra," She pulls him into a hug, "You look lovely tonight." He compliments.

"Thank you," she looks down at her midnight blue dress, "And you look dashing." He's out of his usual Zaofu robes, instead wearing a dark green suit edged with metal.

He hands her one of the many cups of Sake being brought around by the servers, "You're 16 now,"

Korra laughs, "Not that that really matters," she accepts the cup, "The police try, but your aunt has other things to worry about then who's old enough to do what."

"Ah, yes the Equalists, them and my aunt are the reasons I got sent." He gives her a crooked grin, "Least likely to draw the attention of either."

"True," she raises her glass.

"To your 16th birthday and many more," he grins, tapping his glass to her's before they both take a drink.

"How long are you gonna be in the city?" Korra asks him.

"Just til tomorrow night, Dad wants me to go to a meeting at Future Industries, then I'm gone by 9 tomorrow night, back in Zaofu 18 hours later."

"Future Industries, huh?" Korra scoffs before laughing.

"With your girlfriend and her dad, right," he gives her a grin that tell her exactly what he's thinking.

"Don't. Baatar, please." She growls.

"Ah, but Korra, you've got the best of both worlds," he grins, "All the up sides of only childom but you're stuck with the rest of us at siblings. I may not be able to do as well as mother or Kuvira, but-"

She grabs his arm, pulling him to a back room, "That's not what it is," she hisses, shutting the door, "I take it Kuvira didn't tell you?"

"What are you talking about, Korra?" He frowns

"Few weeks ago, we had a bit of a run in with the Equalists, I got a mask off one of them." She sighs, "It was Asami, Baatar."

"Oh, shit."

"Please, don't mess with them more then you need to." Korra begs.

"Okay, yeah, I won't. I promise." He nods.

"Kuvira honestly didn't tell you?" Korra frowns, "I would think you and Su would for sure be the people she tells."

Baatar sighs and shrugs, "She probably talks to you more than us anymore, I don't know, a little under a year ago, a bit after she joined the guard, she started pushing us away, then mom told her about her plans to have her become Captain and anything she still talked to us about, well," he shakes his head, "She really doesn't talk to us that much anymore. Mom can get her to come by for dinner, but we're all worried."

Korra nods, "I'll talk to her about it next time I talk to her, see if she'll tell me."

Baatar nods, opening his mouth to say something, only to be interrupted by a door opening.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just-" green eyes meet Korra's, "Looking for you, actually, Korra."

"Asami," she nods, taking a step closer to the heiress with a frown, she looks over the older girl's face, she's worried. She sighs and looks at Baatar, "Can you please give us a minute?"

He gives her a frown but nods, "Korra, Ms. Sato," he slips out of the room, Korra knows he hasn't gone far.

"Who was that?" Asami asks slowly taking another step closer to Korra.

"Baatar, he's a friend from Zaofu." Asami nods opening her mouth to ask something else, "What do you want, Asami?"

"I-" she rubs her hand along her forearm, "I told you I'd help you take down the Equalists. I meant it." She grabs a small box out of her pocket, "And I figured this would be the only real chance for me to give your birthday gift."

Korra picks up the box, looking at it for a minute before sighing and shaking her head, putting the box back down, "I-" she looks up at Asami, shaking her head again, "Take it back, Asami. I think we should break up. We probably should have actually two weeks ago."

Asami nods with a small smile, "Yeah, we probably should. I really am, so, so, very, sorry Korra. I should have-" she sighs, blowing a stray strand of hair out of her eyes, "I should have done more. I should have done better."

"Here," she hands the wrapped box back to Asami.

"Nope," the taller girl shakes her head, putting her hands in her pockets, "It's still your present, and I still told you I'd help you with the Equalists." She smiles softly, pulling Korra back into a hug, letting a single tear fall, as she pulls away, Korra pulls her in for a kiss, it feels just as great as all their kisses have, but all Korra can taste is the bitter tinge now attached to it as she pulls away.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have-"

"No," Asami shakes her head, tears pooling in her eyes, mirroring Korra's, "Don't apologize." She steps away, smoothing imaginary wrinkles with a small smile, "See you around, Avatar Korra." She quickly leaves the room, wiping her eyes with her wrists, "I hope we're still friends, or something?"

Korra nods, "Or something." She watches the other girl leave before she rests her hands on the window sill.

Her legs feel shaky as Baatar returns, "What happened?" He asks her softly, standing calmingly next to her.

She clears her throat, "We, um," she picks up the box, hoping to stop her hands from shaking, "We- we broke up."

"Oh," he nods, resting his hand on her shoulder, "I'm sorry, Korra."

She shakes her head, "It's for the best."

He gives her a soft smile, "That doesn't mean it doesn't hurt." Korra nods as he pulls her into a hug.

She eventually pulls away from him, "Thanks, Baatar."

"Anytime," He grins, "Another up side of you being stuck with all these unofficial siblings, there's usually someone to help out with this type of stuff."

"Speaking of siblings, I met my Uncle here, my father's brother. If the Equalists don't kill me, look into him or my cousins." She grins, slowly opening the gift from Asami, "so if you think you mom and aunt are bad, there's that."

"Your Chief of the Northern Water Tribe uncle?" He laughs, "I think I'd need some more power to look into that."

She rolls her eyes, the wrapping paper reveals a jewelry box, "Congrats, as Avatar, I now make you the deputy ruler…" she opens the box, "Of… the…" a wad of paper falls out, she quickly opens it, "Earth- Earth Kingdom." She smooths it out only enough to read what it is, only to quickly fold it back up again, not looking to see if there's anything else in the box before shoving the paper back in the box and the box into her pocket.

"What is it?" He asks.

"I need to give this to Lin." She grins, "This, this could take down the Equalists."

"I assume she's here?" Korra nods, "Then I suppose I'll talk to you later, and see you next time you make your way to Zaofu?"

"When's your meeting with Future Industries?"

"11, why?"

"Breakfast, dinner, or both, we'll have them tomorrow." She tells him more then asks, "You have the apartment radio number?"

"Yeah?"

"Call it later tonight, when you get to the hotel. The others will give you to me if I don't answer."

He agrees to her back as she's already made her way back into the crowd.

•••

Lin is easy enough to find, still in her police uniform, "Chief Beifong," she grins softly, "Could I please talk to you for a moment," she gets even closer, her voice barely above a breath, "It's about the Equa-"

"What is it, Avatar?" She growls, interrupting her.

"A- someone gave me this," she grabs the papers and carefully palms them to the police chief, "I think they're legit."

She looks at the papers now in her hand, she doesn't unfold them, instead putting them in her own pocket, "You think so, Avatar?"

"Yes," she nods, "I'm almost certain that it has some places you'll want to look into."

"Me and my officers will look into it. Maybe you can join us on some of the raids if they turn out to be real and you stay out of the way otherwise."

"Thank you, chief." She nods.

"Ah, Korra, there you are." Tarrlok's hand is the next one to rest on her shoulder, "I have some people who have been dying to talk to you," he guides her towards one of the doors, "If you'll just answer a few of their questions," he pushes her towards the podium, and into the piranha shake filled water.

"Avatar Korra, how much danger do you think Amon and his nonbending Equalists are to the city?"

"Amon and his Equalist, I think they could be a great danger. But so is-"

"Then why haven't you joined Tarrlok's task force."

"I think-"

"Do you believe-"

"The way-"

"Are you afraid?"

"I'm not-" this time Korra's cut off by three loud bangs, she feels a sharp pain in her stomach before her legs give out, she looks down and sees crimson spreading across her stomach.

"Korra."

"Avatar Korra!"

"Korra!"

Black spot flit across her vision as she looks towards the sky.

"Back up! Give her some room!" Lin's voice sounds above the rest as she hears metal cables flying.

She sees the vague shapes of people in her vision, leaning over her, but she can't tell who it is, all she knows is it "hurts," she tries to bring her hand to the wound, "fuck that hurts," she murmurs as the darkness takes over more of her sight.

She hears sirens, where's the fire? She tilts her head that's lead, looking for the smoke of light that'd be the fire, instead only coughing, metallic iron covers her tongue and lips as she meets Baatar's eyes for a second, then Asami's, then she sees Jinora and Ikki, half hiding behind Pema as the darkness continues it's assault. Korra's tired, "So tired."

"Stay awake, kid." Lin's voice again, the siren's are on top of her now, "Keep her awake, Mako." She orders.

"Yes chief." She nods, trying really hard not to lie. But the black is so tiring and the light hurts, the darkness is so inviting, slowly she finds herself falling into the darknesses embrace, she tried, she really tried. It'll be fine. She knows it.


	21. Chapter 21

Lin looks over a he young man, Katsu, Firebender, “He looks very young,” a voice behind her says, she turns to see Tenzin, not even having the energy for her usual anger at the man, she instead just nods.

  
“18, he was kicked out of a school in Dragon Heights for an Agni Kai with another student,” she looks at the file, nothing in there til this, “How's the Avatar?”

  
“Alive, despite his best efforts,” he says, sounding far more angry and vengeful then Lin can recall hearing him, “They healed her up in the hospital, she's still unconscious, they think she'll be up tomorrow or the day after, should be up and running again in maybe two weeks, knowing Korra, in ten days she'll be trying to take on the Triple Threat Triad and Equalists again.”

  
“And the rest of them?”

  
“She has a dozen or more waiting for her to wake up, honestly. But Sato’s father is wanting to take her home, your nephew is arguing with your sister and his siblings as to whether he should return home or stay here for a bit, I think he'll be leaving as planned though.”

  
“I still can't believe Su sent one of her kids.”

  
Tenzin shrugs, “Korra learned earth and metalbending in Zaofu, from someone named Kuvira, I'm not shocked she had other friends, though your nephew seems a bit older then I'd think, when you're 13, 14 would you want to be friends with an 11 year old?”

  
She rolls her eyes, “I'm not discussing the Avatar and my sister with you, Tenzin.” She picks up the file, “I take it you're watching the interrogation?”

  
“I'd like to, yes.”

  
“I can't stop you, councilman.” She grunts opening the door and leaving him in the side room.

  
The boy looks up as she slams the door shut, he attempts to give her a cold look, though the tears remind her he's only 18, “You're in a whole Sky Bison load of trouble," She growls stealing her eyes.

He grins, "Is she dead," he leans forward just a bit, shackles rattling on the table, "My hands were shaking so bad, I almost missed."

Lin frowns at him, shaking her head and instead begins "So let's see if I get this story right, stop me when I'm wrong, sound good?" She leans back a bit, "Someone came up to you with this plan."

"I did it alone."

Lin laughs, "You're not smart enough to come up with this," she pulls a picture of the weapon from the file, "Someone came up to you, with a plan to kill the Avatar. They gave you the weapon, they got you into the gala, they told you when to attempt to kill her."

"The Avatar has killed millions," he begins.

"Avatar Korra is 16, I think it's pretty clear she hasn't killed anyone in this lifetime. You, however, after all that, that show of loyalty to the cause, they're going to let you take the fall for this, how does 50 years to life sound? Longer if she dies."

"They won't, he won't leave me, he promised." The boy responds, his gaze wavering before hardening again.  
"Who is they? Come on kid, this'll be easier for you if you help us."

"No, no," he shakes his head, "He'll come, he'll help me. He thought this up, he won't let me take the fall for this alone."

  
"Okay," Lin nods, "while we're waiting for him, let's just talk." She leans forward, "Did you know my nephew was on that stage?"

"No," he shakes his head, suddenly seeming scared.

"His mother's the Matriarch of the Metal Clan, I may not get along with my sister, but mom's proud. Councilman Tarrlok, Councilman Tenzin and his entire family, one stray shard and the world is down 1/4 the remaining Airbenders in the world. And I mean, the Sato's or Probenders, imagine the public outcry." Lin watches the boy. "Honestly, I wouldn't want to deal with the headache that you'll have if he comes and helps you."

"He will, and I really can't bring myself to care about politics."

"Yet you just did the most politically charged attack since Yakone. You grew up in town, ever hear of him?"

"He had his bending taken by Avatar Aang, like Amon is."

"For someone who isn't interested in politics, you're very quick to bring up Amon."

"Well, that's what they were asking Avatar Korra about right? How she's scared of Amon and his Equalists? Everybody's running scared." He crosses his arms, "I think I'm done talking."

  
"He isn't coming to help you. I don't care how powerful you think your friend is, he won't be able to."

"I'll take my chances." The bright light sheens off the boy's dark hair as he looks anywhere but Lin, the bare walls give him nothing and his reflection in the mirror behind the Chief of Police is worse than the steely green eyes.   
They sit there in total silence for a minute, then ten, after almost twenty minutes Lin nods, "Okay, Katsu, was it the Equalists? Amon or someone else who supports them?”

  
“I'd never work for those cowards who hide behind masks.” He shakes his head.  
“Then someone else, who?”

  
He remains silent.

  
She nods, “Okay, Katsu, you're under arrest for the attempted assassination of the Avatar," she forces him to stand, grabbing the cuffs as other officers start leading him away.

  
“He'll come,” he calls over his shoulders as the door closes behind him, “He won't leave me.”

  
Lin sighs before going back to the room that Tenzin’s in, “probably not Equalists, but,” she sighs, “We'll let him stew, see if hid trusts whoever’s behind this hold after a few nights in prison.”

  
•••••

  
Asami’s pretty quickly figuring out why Korra doesn't like the White Lotus guards, there are too many of them and they're everywhere and too still. She looks down at her hands, there's still blood under her nails, Korra's blood, “Hey,” She looks up as Bolin sits next to her, looking over the too pale Avatar, her torso wrapped tightly in bandages.

  
“Hey, Bolin,” she smiles weakly, looking at his hands, he has blood under his nails too.

  
“Korra wasn't sure you'd make it,” He states, “Said you two had been fighting.”

“Yeah,” Asami nods, fighting is one way to put it, “We, um,” she brushes her hand through her hair, “We actually broke up, at the party.”

  
“You broke up?” Bolin repeats.

  
“Yeah, I made a really bad mistake, and I should have told her.” she gives the boy a sad smile, “I’m sure she already told you. But yeah, she found out and yeah,” she sighs.

  
“Like I said, she just told us you were fighting.” He looks at her for a moment before sighing, “You know, me and Mako, we were fighting, the day our parents died, I can't even remember what about, but we were. Then they took Mako out to do something, coming home, they were mugged and killed by a firebender. Mako gets home though, in dad's too big scarf and has a burn on his shoulder, but alive and there, and I have never been more happy to see him.”

  
Asami sighs, leaning forward, closer to Korra's bed, “What's your point, Bolin?”

  
“Death, or near death, it changes things. I'm sure, no matter what you guys have been fighting about, Korra forgives you, and wants you here.” He promises.  
Asami looks down at her bloody nails again, “I hope you're right, Bo.” She looks at Korra's unconscious face again.

  
•••••

  
Korra’s standing in a clearing, almost barren except for a dead tree in the center of it, and two bubbles of light on either side, She's been here before, or one of her past lives has.

  
“Soon Raava. Soon we'll meet again.” A deep voice says.

  
“Who’s Raava?” She turns walking towards the tree, trying to find the source of the voice.

  
“I wouldn't do that, Korra,” A new voice says, she turns quickly.

  
“Kuruk?” She questions, the man is in Water Tribe clothes, he nods, “Am I dead?” She looks down at her hands.

  
“No, Avatar Korra, but you were injured.”

  
“I- I have to go back,” she looks around wildly.

  
He nods, “You will,” he promises, putting his hand out to her, “Come, there's something you must see.”

  
She takes the offered hand, she feels herself be pulled forward, into the deadened forest. When she stops, she's stuck in the forest, she looks around, Kuruk is gone, “Hey!” She yells looking around, “What did you-” she coughs, a pain in her side forcing her to her knees, “What did you want to show me?” She forces out, screwing her eyes shut.

  
“Stand down, Chin, or I will make you!”

  
“What? What are you talking about?”

  
“I'm letting you go in the name of our past friendship.”

  
She sees a flash of fire lord Sozin and Roku, then Aang and Zuko. “What do you want to show me?” She demands again, coughing, feeling a trickle of warm blood trails down her chin, is this how she'll die, here in the spirit world?

  
A flash of Aang in the Avatar state, “Yakone,” she sees Toph straining against an invisible force.

  
“Blood bending,” she mutters.

  
“It just proves anyone is capable of great good or great evil,” Aang’s voice says.

  
“You must go back, Korra,” she hears Aang say.

  
“But-” she begins straining against the pain.

  
“No, now go.” Airbending robes are right in front of her, if she just looks up, she'll see Aang, she knows it.

  
“Okay,” she nods, using one of her forearms to keep her up, she forces a deep breath and opens her eyes, but she doesn't see the ground of the spirit world, instead a ceiling.

  
“Korra?” A deep voice asks, airbending robes fluttering into view with blue arrows.

  
“Aang?”

  
“Korra,” the voice repeats, it's not Aang, it's Tenzin, “You were hurt at the gala, but you're in the hospital, the healers say you'll be fine.”

  
She nods, closing her eyes again to fight off the pain.


	22. Chapter 22

Korra lets out a small groan as she pushes herself up to a sitting position, legs hanging off the bed, "Good morning, Avatar Korra." A nurse smiles entering the room with toast an egg and tea, "How are you feeling today?"

"Good," Korra smiles, ignoring the pull from the scared over wound, "Ready to get out of here, as lovely as it is to see your face every day, Sai."

The nurse laughs, checking the Avatar's vitals, "Well, you seem healthier than most people leaving our care," she presses on the scar, Korra forces herself not to gasp out, "How about I leave you to your breakfast, and in about an hour, we go for a walk around the hospital, if you can do that without hurting yourself, I'll talk to Healer Kita about letting you go with Councilman Tenzin, if you take it easy for the next two or three or so at least. No running into burning buildings or taking on the Equalists."

"I think I can do that for a few days." Korra agrees with a crooked smile.

The nurse nods, "Then I'll see you in an hour or so, Avatar Korra."

•••••

The beginning of the walk was easy, Korra smiles and waves at the other patients, "So, why do you want to get out of here so bad? I didn't think our food was that bad, Avatar Korra." Sai asks her patient as they walk fairly easily around the hospital.

"Can't let them think they got to me, the Avatar can't be seen as weak." Korra shrugs.

"Ah, Chief Beifong," Sai smiles instead of responding to Korra's comment as the Chief of Police comes up to them, "What can we do for you?"

"I was actually wondering if I could talk to the Avatar for a few minutes?"

The nurse nods, "Just make sure she doesn't push herself."

"You act like I'm trying to run a mile," Korra grumbles as the nurse leaves, "So, what's up, chief?" She asks as they continue walking.

"How are you, kid?" Lin ask as she falls into step beside the younger girl.

"Eh?" Korra shrugs, "Ready to get out of here. And about a hundred times better than a week ago."

"Great first week of being 16, huh?"

"Yeah, though it certainly could be worse," Korra shrugs, "So, what brings you here today, chief?" She repeats.

"Well, first, those leads you gave me at the gala, all we've gone to have been accurate, we've made some serious arrests."

"Ah," Korra nods, "good, with how much Tarrlok's 'task force' is in the paper, I was worried you guys found nothing. That the leads weren't real."

"Nope, however we are getting trouble getting onto the Sato estate."

"The Sato Estate?" Korra repeats, unable to believe Asami would give her that.

"Yeah, I wouldn't believe it myself, his daughter dating the Avatar and all, but everything else has been correct so far." Lin looks at Korra, "I'd ask if you wanted to join us, it'd probably be a week before we get the warrants, but I'd argue you're a bit too close."

"Me and Asami broke up the gala," she attempts to defend, wanting to help.

Lin rolls her eyes, "I don't trust you to remain neutral with an ex anymore then a lover."

"Speaking from experience, there, chief?" Korra asks

Chief Beifong glares at the Avatar, "I don't believe that's your business, Avatar."

Korra nods, raising both hands in surrender. "Sounds good, chief," that tells her that she's probably right, "But there's no way you just came here to tell me I wasn't allowed to go with you to the Sato Estate. So, why'd you come here?"

"The man who injured you, he claims he wasn't an Equalist."

Korra nods,"Another person or group that wants to kill the Avatar, great." She responds, running her hand through her hair, "Any idea who or what I should be on the lookout for?"

"He hasn't given us more than that."

"Maybe the Red Lotus?" Korra asks, "They had the escape what three years ago? Could he be working with them?"

Lin shrugs, "We don't know, he hasn't talked the past few days, but all known Red Lotus members are in immensely secure White Lotus prisons."

"Wasn't the compound in the South Pole suppose to be immensely, secure?" Korra responds, kicking a pebble and popping each of her fingers, "Not sure that I believe that they couldn't do something like this if they had wanted to. But then, he didn't aim at you orq Tenzin or Councilman Tarrlok, so you're probably right."

Lin nods, "We'll look into it," she agrees, "and it's always possible he could be lying and is involved with the Equalists."

"If the Sato's are involved with the Equalists, why would they fire then, or why would Hiroshi and Asami go on the stage, they could've been hit."

"And it could always be some other party, the Avatar isn't popular with everyone in the world."

"So I've noticed," Korra laughs. The chief glares at her, before sighing.

"Well, keep an eye out, I assume you're going to Air Temple Island after you leave here?"

"Yes," Korra nods, "Mako and Bolin too, the apartment isn't the best place to be with a target on our back, and Aden and Yuna are leaving for the Southern Water Tribe and Makapu tomorrow."

The police chief nods, "Well, the Island is probably the safest place in the city." Lin crosses her arms and steps in front of Korra, "So I take it you spent some time in Zaofu?"

Korra nods, "10 months, it's where I learned Earth and Metal bending." Korra bites her cheek, almost certain where the older woman is going, but she's not going to bring it up before she does, she'd take her chances with the near assassin again then get Lin mad at her.

"Well, anything you may have heard about my family, I'd appreciate if you kept it to yourself."

"So I figured." Korra nods, "Don't worry, I won't."

Lin hums and nods, "Thank you, Avatar." Giving Korra a small smile as they return to the Avatar's room.

•••••

Five days later, Korra is chomping at the bit to get off the island. Tenzin let her work on airbending, but she's made next to no headway there. Aang and the other Avatars are still ever silent, only now, she has more questions than ever.

Sighing, she approaches Tenzin's office, "Hey, Tenzin?" She asks as she knocks on the door.

"Come in, Korra."

She slides the doors open, closing it behind her, looking around the room, she sees that day's paper, she picks it up, the same picture of dead benders bleeding on the street, "I see you've seen what happened last night," she groans.

"Yes, Lin said last count, 26 dead."

"These stupid fucking equalists! And Tarrlok's publicity stunt of a task force, they arrested what 50 some odd people who just wanted their power turned back on!" The paper burns in her palm, "I need to be out there, helping people. Before everyone knew I was the Avatar, even while working and Probending, I could help people!" She drops into the chair, "I can't airbend, I can't get connected to my past lives, I can't help people! People are dying, Tenzin! And I should be able to help them, do something, stop Amon, but I can't because I'm as stuck here as I was in that Raava forsaken compound!" She looks at Tenzin who seems stunned at her outburst.

"Korra," he begins, "I think you just need to be patient and-"

"The world. Republic City, they don't have time for me to be patient, everyone is getting hurt, everyone is dying, and," she runs her hands through her hair before sighing, "I'm sorry, I'm just frustrated. That came out wrong."

"Korra, you may be the Avatar, but you can't save everyone."

She stands, sighing again, "but I need to do something," she looks to the city, "And Kuvira's chomping at the bit to come here after… which, you know, if they weren't killing benders, removing their bending, left, right, and center, I'd be more then willing to accept her help, but honestly."

"Korra," Tenzin sighs, placing a hand on her shoulder, "Maybe you should get off the island for a while, you and your friends. Just try and stay out of trouble."

"I won't go looking for trouble." She promises, "I'll talk to Mako and Bolin, see if they want to go do something, we'll be back before sun down." She'd promise anything just to get off this damned island.

Tenzin nods, "I'll be in town as well, me and Lin have some things to take care of."

"The warrant on the Sato's finally came in?"

"Like I said, Korra, stay out of trouble."

•••••

"It's so nice of Tenzin to allow us to stay on the island, but it's also nice to be back in the city." Bolin grins, stretching out on the back seat as Mako drives.

"I'm just happy he didn't send the White Lotus with us," Korra mutters looking behind them. She's dressed as a typical earthbender today, hoping no one will look twice at her.

"Where to?" Mako asks.

"How about the Jasmine Dragon in Dragon Heights? Then we could just walk around," Korra suggests, "Go to Harmony Park? Or the Zoo?" She doesn't particularly care where, just happy to be out, fiddling with the radio, pausing on the police radio station.

"I'd like to walk," Bolin smiles

"Okay, sounds good," Mako nods, turning the satomobile down Lion Turtle Avenue.

•••••

"I can't believe you got hot coco, Bolin." Korra laughs a bit.

"Well I like it, unlike your hot leaf water, Korra," Bolin sticks his tongue out at the Avatar.

"I know at least seven world leaders who would smack you for calling it that," Korra grins.

Her smile slowly fades as the radio cackles to life, "Chief it's a trap, we need back up."

She turns it up, "It's the police radio, they're serving a warrant on the Sato Estate today," Korra looks to the boy's wide eyes.

"What? There's no way Asami or her dad are Equalists." Bolin yells.

"We need back u-" the begging is cut off by a scream of pain.

"We need to go help them."

"Bolin's right, Korra, Asami's not an Equalist," Mako responds, putting the car in park, "They have to be somewhere else."

Korra sighs, debating telling them, only to realize they wouldn't believe her, "It's fine, if you don't believe me, I'll go myself. I can't just stand here and do nothing." She begins getting out of the car.

"Wait," Mako grabs her wrist, "I'm with you, I'll go." He revs the engine to life, speeding to the Sato Mansion.

They jump out of the car as one of the butlers come up to them, "Master Mako, Master Bolin, Avatar Korra, Ms. Sato is busy and-" Korra walks past them to the mess of police cars also in the lot.

"It has to be the entire metalbending police force," Korra looks around, "and that'd be Lin's cruiser, Tenzin's with her." She turns to the Sato employee, "Where are they?"

"I- I don't know," the man shrugs, "They've been around all morning."

Korra groans, "I was never very good at this," she slips her right shoe off, slamming her now bare foot on the ground, the vision is blurry, but there's something, "Under the workshop, I'd say stairs, but I can't see that well."

Mako nods, "Let's go."

"Wait," Korra grunts, grabbing one of the radios, "This is the Avatar, any units available, to the Sato Estate. All available units to the Sato Estate."

Korra hangs it up, then they start running.

The workshop is almost empty, but unconscious officer and the giant hole in the ground tells them where to go, Korra kneels next to the officer, finding a pulse, "I'm going in, you wait out here, if I don't call up within ten minutes, I need you two to go get help," Korra tells the brothers.

"No way, we're with you." Bolin responds.

"Bolin-"

"He's right, we have your back, Avatar Korra."

"Fine," she sighs, "Let's go."

She leads the way stepping down the steps, I need more power.

The Avatar State

Okay, chakras, she takes a deep breath. Earth, survival, it's blocked by fear. A flash of Amon and the compound comes into her vision.

They can't take me back. And he doesn't have as much power as he claims. You're okay, there's no need to fear.

She feels her chi flow, just a bit, most the way down, now on the next one, Water, pleasure, blocked by guilt.

I shouldn't have ran, everyone was so worried. But now I'm a better Avatar then I would have been otherwise, and otherwise I wouldn't have met the people I know now.

The chi flows, she'd never felt much guilt for leaving. Half way down, she still can't hear anything, Fire, willpower, blocked by shame.

It doesn't feel blocked to her, if it is she'll deal later, next one, Air, love, blocked by grief.

Easy, she loves Kuvira and, Mako and Bolin, even Asami, Tenzin and his kids, Su, her family, her parents. And no sense of grief. These last two were too easy. Sound, truth, blocked by lies, that's next. Almost to the foot of the stairs

Lies, what lies has she told herself? She steps on the base of the stairs, great, no Avatar State, let's do this. Looking around, there's several metal suits surrounding the unconscious metal bender police, chief of police and Tenzin. Even more chi blockers surround the walls of workshop.

"Get them out of here, you two, I got this," Korra orders bending Earth spikes into the two closest machines as Bolin and Mako run to the offices, helping some to their feet and hoisting others to their shoulders.

"Avatar Korra, so nice of you to finally join us." Hiroshi's voice comes from one of the suits.

"Just visiting," Korra smirks, freezing two more suits to the ground, "I'll be sure to be out of your hair in just a minute." She responds stepping backwards, closer to the stairs.

"I can't let you do that, Avatar." He says as the chi blockers back away to a small opening in the opposite wall. She dodges three cables, the fourth catching her wrist. She attempts to cut it with bending as the electricity comes closer.

She falls to her knees in pain as the voltage runs through her, closing her eyes, she forces her muscles to work and bend her armband into a knife before severing the wire.

Her right arm hangs limp at her side as she stands, forcing herself to remain awake. She sees the remaining six mecha suits approaching her, she looks behind her for a split second, the boys and officers are almost out of view. She bends a wall of earth and fire to push the mechs back before running to the stairs, putting another wall up between them and the suits, "Let's get out of here!" She yells up the stairs, helping a straggler up.

"Republic City Police!" She hears a new voice yells

"Down here!" Mako yells, "We need some help down here!"

About half a dozen police officers are beside them before Korra can really blink, "Let's get them to the airship," one of the men says.

Korra nods as someone takes the officer from her shoulder, she stumbles at the shift of weight, looking down her right arm, she has two deep burns, one at her wrist and the other nearer her shoulder with the paths the electricity took connecting them.

As she steps on the airship a woman guides her to one of the seats, "Thank you Avatar," she says before they close the door and take off, "Let's get them to a healer, Sivro." She hears her tell the pilot as they take to the air. She hears groans as everyone slowly comes to. Raava damnit, she'd only just gotten out of the hospital, now she has to go back again.


	23. Chapter 23

Korra rolls her shoulders, shifting again the the seat of Lin's cruiser, attempting to fight back a yawn.

"This boring you, Avatar?" The police chief asks, one eye on Korra, the other looking at the papers in front of her.

"No," she shakes her head, "Sorry, chief," she loses her fight to the yawn, "I haven't been sleeping much since the gala," she explains, "I'm fine, won't happen again."

Lin frowns, "Trouble sleeping, kid?"

She's sure the older woman is asking about nightmares, but that's not quite what's been happening, "Yeah, Aang's been trying to tell me something, but you know, I can't meditate to it, so I'm not sure what he's trying to tell me, but can't get any rest either," she rubs her eyes before leaning forward, "But it's fine, I'll figure it out," she turns away from Lin, looking out the window, "I just hope it has to do with the Equalists." She looks down at her arm, the burns had scared, her entire right arm now looks like lightning bolts from her wrist to just below the shoulder. Though thankfully, that's about the only permanent damage, none that they've found to the nerves or muscles or her bending.

"Well, if you want to talk about it, go ahead," the police chief shrugs, "I need you on the ball if you're going to be out here, I don't need you getting hurt because you're stuck in your own world."

"Yes, chief," Korra nods, remembering the name she's been waking up with echoing in her head, "Do you know who Yakone is?"

"Yakone?" Lin raises an eyebrow, "He was a bloodbender, a crime boss in the city, Avatar Aang removed his bending after he escaped during his-"

"All units, all units, 38th and Chin, we have a 4502, I repeat, all available units, 4502 at 38th and Chin," a voice comes over the radio.

Lin grabs the radio, "Unit 1 on our way, I have the Dragon with me."

"Copy, Dragon and Unit one, on their way."

"Looks like we have an explosion in town, ready Avatar?"

"Yeah, definitely." She nods as Lin speeds off.

•••••

"Ah, Chief Beifong, Avatar Korra," Tarrlok grins, "Nice of you to join us, though, I think this is more a case for my task force then your officers, Lin," he steps in front of both of them, "Unless you're here to tell me you want to join me, Avatar?" He places his hand on her shoulder with a grin.

Korra shrugs the hand off her shoulder, "I won't be doing that, Tarrlok," she frowns, "But someone has to mitigate the damage your task force and moronic curfews that all they're doing is causing as much damage as Amon and driving more people to the damned Equalists by proving them right." The man's hand raises a bit as if to grab her wrist, Korra pulls away.

Korra tries to turn to face Lin, only for her muscles seem to lock, and breathing seems hard, "I'd watch your tongue, Avatar. I'm just doing what the City needs," the councilman growls.

"Huh, you almost seem to believe that," she takes a small step back, turning to the police chief, "Do you want me in the rubble or healing or…" she trails off.

Lin looks at the crater that was once a building, "I'm thinking rubble until we get more officers here, then we'll see. There are some extra cables in the back of the van," she motions to the police van parked away from the hole.

Korra nods, "On it."

•••••

Several hours later, Korra looks up to the edge of the crater, she and the officers have to be at least 25 feet below street level. Bending a large boulder away from one of the entrances of a still standing. She bends down as a glint catches her eye. A thin, almost invisible wire is resting just above the ground, frowning, she looks over her shoulder, "Hey, Chief, I think you should check this out!"

"What is it, Avatar?" Lin asks coming up behind her, Korra points to the wire, "I want everyone out of here, carefully!" Lin states with a frown, "You too, Avatar," she says quieter.

"What is it?" Korra asks, standing slowly as the older woman motions her away from the wire.

"Looks like a tripwire," Lin explains as half the officers pull themselves out of the explosion sight.

"You think they-" there's a click, Both look over to see Zurro stumbling before Korra hears a roaring, she jumps to the middle of the clearing, putting her hands out before her vision goes bright and clear.

Her hand raises, but it's not her choice to move. She feels wind surround her as she it lifted from the ground. She sees fire from the explosion and the explosion yields to her easily, hugging the walls and staying away from almost all the cops and task force members.

"Korra," a voice calls, she turns.

"Aang?" She murmurs as the blur turns into the previous Avatar.

"Come," he grins, jumping on Appa, "There's something I must show you."

She nods, feeling her essence leave her body, joining her past life on his spirit guide.

The sky bison lands on a street in Republic City, "Where are we?" Korra asks, looking around.

"Republic City, almost 20 years after we started the experiment." Aang tells her.

"Experiment?" Korra frowns.

"Yes," Aang nods, "the global experiment, no one had ever attempted to have people of multiple nations all in the same place, mine, Zuko's, the Earth King's, Team Avatar's experiment."

"What are you doing here, Aang?" Toph Beifong asks with a frown, "I have it handled."

"If rumors of what this man can do are true, Toph," Aang begins

"Your arguing with Toph? If she's anything like Su or Lin, you're much braver then I thought…" Korra smirks.

"Yes, the girl's certainly got many personality traits from their mother," Aang chuckles, "But Toph will proudly tell you she's the original," as Toph and Aang go into the building, "And the Beifongs are pretty great allies to have, as you've found."

Korra nods as the scene shifts to a trial, Yakone's trial. Then being declared guilty.

"Do you really think there are some benders who have such special skills?"

"With creativity and hard work, I can't bring myself to believe there's truly a limit to it, but then, that's not always a good thing," he murmurs motioning for her to watch as Yakone knock the council to the ground.

"He's bloodbending…"

"Yes, as you felt with Councilman Tarrlok, bloodbending-"

"Wait," Korra looks away from the scene, "Tarrlok's a bloodbender?"

Aang looks to her, "Yes, I believe he and Amon are my doing," he states as past him catches Yukone, removing his bending.

"If you can remove bending like Amon, then you must know how to undo it," Korra looks to him a grin on her face.

Aang frowns and shakes his head, "I can't help you with that, Korra, you must find your own path. As you'll find mine doesn't always work. I would however suggest you attempt to find a peaceful solution if at all possible,"

Korra scoffs, pulling away from Aang, "Take me back," she orders.

He sighs but nods, "Appa, yip yip," taking flight.

Korra closes her eyes against the wind. Before she can open her eyes again, she feels her feet hit the ground, opening her eyes, she's back in the rubble, the walls now burnt. She takes a few stumbling steps before a hand falls on her shoulder, "Hey, you back with us, Kid?"

Lin carefully leads her to the edge of the crater, Korra rests her hand and forehead on the wall, "What did I do?" She asks softly, eyes closed to stop the world from swaying under foot.

"Well, you saved all of our asses, went into the Avatar State," Lin tells her, "Not willingly, I take it."

Korra shakes her head.

"Well, come on kid, let's get you back to the Island," the chief of police says guiding the Avatar away from the wall just a bit to have her propel upwards.

Korra shakes her head, "I'm fine," she promises.

"Okay, Avatar," Lin nods, "but we're done for tonight, til we get the bomb squad to check before we do anything else."

"Fine," Korra nods, hooking her cables to the top of the hole, pulling herself up.

Korra walks back towards Lin's vehicle.

"Avatar Korra!"

"Avatar Korra!"

"Chief Beifong!"

"Avatar!"

The press surrounding them are loud and bright, Korra frowns, just wanting to leave.

"What are you planning to do about the Equalist threat?" The question rings in her mind.

"What are your plans for Amon?"

"Why haven't you arrested more Equalists?"

Korra steps forward, "It's because they're cowards who hide behind fake names and masks! And their leader is the greatest coward of them all!" Korra growls, "If Amon really was so powerful, he'd come out of the shadows and fight me himself." She laughs darkly, "In fact, I challenge him to a fight, one on one, no one else, tomorrow night at Avatar Aang Memorial Island!" If Aang wasn't any help, she'll go with Kyoshi.

"I really hope you know what you're doing, Kid," she hears Lin mutter as they push through the press.

"I do," Korra replies, she's ending him and his rebellion.


	24. Chapter 24

“So, wait, are you sure this is a good idea, Korra?” Mako asks as Bolin and Korra spar beside him.

“I can’t just let him keep killing people and causing all this fear, Raava knows Tarrlok does that enough without obviously bloodbending people.”

“What if he takes your bending?” Bolin asks with a frown as Korra lays him into the ground.

“It’ll be fine,” Korra shrugs, helping the earthbender to his feet, “I need to stop him from taking anyone elses bending, the make sure the city is stabilized so I can try and find a way to get everyone he’s already taken back.”

“You think it’s reversible?”

“He’s not energybending, it’s probably an advanced form of bloodbending or chi blocking, there has to be a way to undo it,” Korra groans as Bolin catches her foot, and knocks her off her balance, sending her spiraling perhaps too close to the cliff edge.

“Hey, Korra!” Bolin calls, looking down the path to the docks.

“What’s up Bolin?” Korra frowns, standing, he points, “Asami?” her brow furrows as she walks up to the heiress.

“Hey,” Asami bites her lip, “Could we talk?” She asks the Avatar. She looks behind the Avatar to the bending brothers.

“Yeah,” Korra nods, “Here or?”

“Somewhere alone. Please?”

Korra sighs then nods, “Come on, we can go to the library,” she motions.

•••••

“What do you want, Asami?” Korra demands, sliding the door shut behind them before turning to the older girl, crossing her arms.

“How are you, Korra? You didn't look good after the raid.”

“You were there?” Korra sighs, running both her hands through her hair, undoing the messy braid, only to begin redoing it, “What am I saying, of course you were there,” she sighs.

Asami nods, “I pulled the chi blockers out.”

Korra nods absentmindedly, rolling up her sleeve to show the burns from the lightning, “Scared but no permanent damage,” she shrugs, “This fight, it's getting much worse before it gets better,” she half sits, half leans on one of the tables, one eye to the door, one on Asami, her metal braclet almost buzzing with the tension in her hands

“Any ideas on how to make it better?” The Equalist sighs.

“A few, none I can do while Amon and Tarrlok are putting everyone who's remotely neutral at each other's throats with the task forces and the killing people and the moronic laws and the removing bending and the fear mongering. I need to get both of them out of here to even have a chance to heal Republic City.”

Asami sighs nodding, “This fight, you challenged Amon to, he’s not going to come alone, he wants me and the Lieutenant and our teams to go. And after that he's planning something big after that.”

Korra nods, “Figures, he can’t just be a blood bender, he has to bring back up to a one on one fight,” she mutters.

“Blood bender? What are you talking about, Korra?” Asami frowns.

“Aang, last night… what do you know about Yakone, Asami?”

“He was a bloodbender, and a crime boss for the Red Monsoons, Beifong’s mother and Aang captured him, removed his bending, he escaped maybe a year later, no one saw him after that,” Asami shrugs, everyone knows the story, “What does he have to do with Amon?”

“I think-” Korra’s cut off by a knock at the door, “Come in,” she calls.

“Avatar Korra,” a White Lotus sentry sticks her head in, “I think your needed down by the docks,” she states.

Korra frowns, “what's wrong?”

“Just, please, hurry.”

Korra nods, standing and leaving the room, brushing past Asami and the White Lotus guard. As she approaches the dock she quickly sees why she was needed.

“Hey, let us go!” She hears Mako grunt.

“We didn't do anything,” Bolin agrees as they come into view, Korra looks around, seeing people in both metal bending uniforms and task force uniforms, she frowns, taking a couple steps closer.

“Hey, what's going on,” she frowns, bending the cables away from Mako and Bolin, stepping between them and the officers, “What's going on?” She repeats, seeing indigo robes out of the corner of her eyes as she looks to Lieutenant Tanaka.

“Chief Saikahn and Councilman Tarrlok want these two arrested in connection to the bombing last night,” The Lieutenant states, “And her,” He points to Asami, “For ties to the Equalists.”

“Saikahn?” Korra repeats.

At the same time Mako growls, “Asami has no ties to those terrorists,”

“The council asked Beifong to step down after the uproar from last night.” The Lieutenant hissed, giving a sidelong glance to the task force members who had not calmed, most the officers however seem to be willing to listen.

Korra nods, “The council,” she repeats with a frown.

The Avatar looks back to Asami, the heiress’s arms are crossed and she's frowning, seeing Korra look at her, she shakes her head, before sighing and stepping forward, “Any questions you have for me about the ridiculous notion you seem to have that I'm an Equalist, I'd be more than happy to answer them,” She smiles kindly, the perfect pai cho player, “No need for a fight, we can just talk. And I'm sure the boys will be more than willing to talk to, even about something as ludicrous as them being involved in that explosion when they've hardly left the island since the gala for Avatar Korra.”

“What's going on here?” A new voice demands.

“Tenzin,” she grins, turning to face the Councilman.

“Councilman Tenzin,” one of the task force members says, suddenly much calmer as he's there.

“What are you doing here? And what do want with them?” the airbending master frowns, crossing his arms, his face darkening.

“Just some questions for them, Councilman Tarrlok wants her,” the task force member points to Asami, “In for being an Equalist. And them, in connection to the attack last night,” he points to the boys.

“We didn't do anything, Master Tenzin, I haven't left the island in two days and Bolin for even longer,” Mako defends himself and his brother.

“I know, Mako,” Tenzin nods, “How about you guys radio Councilman Tarrlok to come here, and we can have a nice talk.”

“We don't have to listen to you, Councilman,” another Task Force member growls.

“Yes, but I'm not sure Korra sees it that way, and I doubt your boss wants to be on her side, you know, as your boss is using this to get her to join your task force,” Asami breaks in, her eyes narrowing, “We'll answer whatever questions you have, just radio Tarrlok.”

Lieutenant Tanaka nods, “I'll radio him.”

“Good.”

•••••

“Tenzin,” Tarrlok gives a politician grin, “I have told you time and again, don't mess with my task force,”

“Your task force is attempting to arrest people on my island, which is supposed to be a sanctuary of peace,” Tenzin shoots back.

“From what I hear, these thugs were resisting arrest after they set off an explosion almost killing 21 officers. Her of course, we've seen her hanging around the Equalists, a clear violation of code 6534.”

“They haven't left the island in two days, even if I believed they would do something like that, Mako and Bolin couldn't have. And Asami was almost injured the night of the Equalist attack at the probending arena.” Korra steps in.

“Enough! I don't think you understand the problem your friends are in here, Avatar Korra.” He turns to his task force member, “Arrest them, and if anyone, even the Avatar gets in the way, arrest them too.” He turns, smirking over his shoulder, “The Avatar and councilman included.”

Korra stands, only for Mako and Asami to grab her arms, “Don't,” Mako tells her, “We'll figure this out.”

“You'd be a sitting turtle-duck in jail for Amon,” Asami murmurs, moving her hand over Korra's the Avatar pauses as she feels paper fall in her hand, she tenses, closing her hand around the paper, nodding softly.

“Let's go,” The task force member growls, grabbing Asami’s shoulder tightly.

Tenzin sighs, “We'll go talk to Saikahn, I'm sure we can sort this out.”

Korra snorts, arms crossed, piece of paper tight in her hand, “Yeah, me joining his task force.”

As day turns to night, Korra finds herself in her room on the island, twisting the paper from Asami in her hand, sure enough they couldn't get anyone out of the jail. Sighing she looks at the paper again Don't go, Amon plans to make you/the council a martyr. In Asami’s loopy and smooth handwriting.

Sighing once again, she puts the paper down on the desk, leaving the room, sure in her next course of action she freezes a sheet of ice, jumping on before taking off, stone faced and ready.

•••••

She slams the doors open, “Tarrlok! Let's talk,” she steps further into the office.

“Don't you have somewhere to be, Avatar Korra? Protect our city from Amon and his terrorists, like your friends.”

“Nope, you and I, we're going to talk.”

He turns to his page, “Are the other councilors here still?”

“No,” the page says quietly.

Tarrlok nods, “You should head home, I'll be leaving after this discussion with Avatar Korra.”

“Yes, councilman,” the page bows before leaving them.

“I trust your here to tell me you're joining the task force? Otherwise I'm afraid I can't help your friends.”

“Not happening, but I think I have a much better reason for you to let them out and work to give Lin Beifong her job back,” Korra crosses her arms, staying far away from the man, “In fact, I have a couple reasons for you to do what I say.”

“Oh? How so, Korra?” He smirks.

“You're a son of Yakone. And so is Amon.”

He pauses, standing.

“Do I have your attention now?” It's her turn to smirk now, “Wouldn't want that to get out now, would we, Tarrlok?”

“Have you told anybody about these ludicrous accusations you have?” Tarrlok demands, standing, the only indication of his lies crashing down around him is his clenched fist.

Korra pauses, lie, she opens her mouth to speak, but he interrupts with a laugh, “You haven't,” he raises his hands, his face turning to a snarl, “Perfect, that'll make it much easier to bury this,” Korra feels her chest and entire body tense, suddenly barely able to breathe, let alone move, she feels her knees crack as she's forced to kneel. She attempts to strain against the pain only for it to shoot through her body, deep into her bones, she lets out a scream, praying to whatever spirits she can think of to make it stop as her eyes shut. And just as quickly as it started, it stops.

 


	25. Chapter 25

Korra lands roughly to the ground on her hands and knees. She looks up to see Tarrlok straining against an invisible attacker, pushing herself to a standing position, she feels the pull of blood bending again, though weaker this time, “Stay down, Avatar and this'll be much less painful.” A deep voice says as she looks into the eyes of Amon.

“You,” she growls, pulling two boulders from the marble floor, attempting to slam them into the terrorist, only to miss as her joints lock and she falls to her knees again.

“I'll deal with you in a moment, Avatar,” Amon growls, “get him,” he orders his chi blockers, “I'll take care of the Avatar personally.” He steps closer and the invisible hand of blood bending clench around her veins again, “It'd be so easy to equalize you, to end your tyranny right here.”

Korra closes her eyes, remembering the power from the night before that had coursed through her veins, trying to bring it back. She hears a yell of shock from behind her, and Amon looks away from her, thankfully loosening the blood bending on her body, she makes two daggers of fire, swinging at Amon, catching his arm by chance more than skill, but it's enough for Amon to drop the remaining hold on her body. Having back control she feels chi and power flow through her.

The Avatar State. A force that's not totally her own suddenly has taken over, she feels her feet leave the floor as everyone else in the room is thrown into to the walls, Fire separates them from her and the door. She sees lightning coming from an Equalist weapon, allowing it to enter her body she redirects it towards Amon, striking him in the chest. Through the flames, she can still see him breathing, she pulls metal from the wall, ready to end this right now, ‘Don't,’ a vaugly familiar voice echoes through her head, ‘Kill him now and you'll make a martyr, you'll never win, Run!’

She pauses, before nodding, allowing the power to leave as she drops to the floor, she doesn't let the adrenaline leave, she pulls an earth tent around the Equalist leader before running out of the building. She jumps on her bike as it reeves to life, taking a few seconds to destroy the Equalist Satocycles and Satomobiles before riding off as she hears footsteps approaching.

Cursing herself for not thinking things through, she realizes the ferry won't be on this side to Air Temple Island. And Amon or his second in command will be starting the plan that Asami had talked about any time now. Making a quick turn a plan begins forming.

Pulling up in front of an innocuous apartment building in a nicer part of town. The bike isn't fully off before she jumps off, running into the building and straight into a doorman.

“What are you doing here, Kid?” The man asks, crossing his arm.

“I'm Avatar Korra, I have to talk to Lin Beifong, now.”

“It's nearly 2 in the morning, Avatar,” he mocks, “You can talk to her in the morning.”

“Please, sir. It's about the Equalists.” No use hiding it now, everything is going down hill too fast for her to stop it or to keep it secret.

“And it can wait til morning,” her responds grabbing her shoulder.

Sighing, she nods, knowing this way is a bust. Walking outside the building, she spots the eighth floor balcony to Lin’s apartment. Gritting her teeth she punches at the building wall, pausing when she feels something different, she sees an empty bag swirl in wind that wasn't there before, trying again she feels another gust of wind. She smiles, she just airbent, she can airbend.

With a deep breath, she pushes herself up, easily reaching the fifth floor, earthbending one of the stones in the building into a foot hold, she lands, still almost thirty feet below where she needs to be, she looks down the street, no one, Equalist, police or otherwise, putting her hands against the wall, she bends a small hand hold for each of her hands, not trusting airbending for the rest of the way, she begins climbing, filling in the holes as she goes.

After several minutes of climbing, she reaches for the metal rail, catching it and pulling herself up and over. She knocks on the window, praying to Raava the metalbender will answer.”

She feels the stones below her feet move, nearly shoving her off the edge. She twists her feets, anchoring herself, “Beifong, it's me! I need to talk to you, please.” She cries, loud enough that Lin can hear but hopefully her neighbors can't.

After a moment and quite a bit of grumbling, she feels the ground reset itself and the door unlock and open, revealing the former Chief of Police in just a tank top and sweats, “What do you want, Avatar?” She growls, motioning the younger girl in.

“The Equalist are attacking council members, they already have Tarrlok, and I can't get to the island fast enough to warn Tenzin,” Korra sighs, letting her shoulders drop, “I had hoped you had a radio that I can give the council a warning.”

Lin nods, motioning her to one of the rooms down the hall, “Is the rest of your little Team Avatar on the island too? Or waiting outside?”

“Tarrlok had Mako, Asami, and Bolin arrested earlier today, I was trying to get them out when Amon attacked. He and Tarrlok, they're both bloodbenders, sons of Yakone, that's how Amon removes people's bending, and how he never loses.” She lists off what she's learned in the past 24 hours.

Lin nods, motioning to the radio, “You can reach all the council members here. Tell Tenzin to be ready to get you back to the Island, I'm going to go have a quick talk with Saikahn, please use the front door to leave, I'll let Jiin know you're heading out.” She lists off, putting her uniform on, sans badge, before stepping back towards the Avatar, putting a hand on Korra's shoulder, “Stay safe, Avatar.”

Korra smiles softly, “Will do, chief. You do the same.”

“Don't worry about me, kid, I'll see you on the island before dawn.”

Korra nods.

•••••

There's a deep path in the grass as the sun rises on Air Temple Island, “Korra, honey, you need to rest,” Pema says softly, putting a hand on Korra's shoulder, “Tenzin’s calling the United Forces and Earth Kingdom states, they'll help take down these Equalists.”

Korra sighs before nodding, “I'm just so worried, Pema.”

“My mom used to say, ‘Worry is like a rocking chair: it gives you something to do but never gets you anywhere’”

“Right now, worrying is all I can do until I get the okay to do my job,” Korra snaps back, pulling her shoulder away before sighing, running her hands through her hair, “I'm going to go try and sleep I think. Please, wake me up if there's anything for me to do.”

Pema nods, “I will, Sweetie.”

“Korra!” A new voice yells, she turns, unable to fight a smile as Bolin comes into view, followed closely by Mako and Asami, Beifong bringing up the rear.

Before she can say anything, the Earthbender slams into her, pulling her into a hug, “Ah I missed you,” he tells her as he lifts her slightly off the ground.

“Missed you too, Bo.” As he lets go of her, she looks at the others, “All of you,” she smiles, “Thank you,” she grins at Lin.

The metalbender shrugs, “Thought if the city was going to be destroyed, you should have the people you trust watching your back. And Saikahn needed a reminder that he's just keeping my chair warm until this blows over.”

Korra nods, “You kids go get some rest,” Pema breaks in, “We'll wake you if anything happens.”

As they walk back to the dorms, Korra grabs Mako’s wrist, “You and Bolin pack anything you'll need if we have to make a quick get away, I get the feeling we'll need them.”

“We will,” The firebender nods.

Leading Asami back to the female dorms Korra sighs, “I don't think I've slept in almost 60 hours, so whatever you want to tell me, can it please wait a few hours?”

“Yes, of course.” Asami nods.

“I assume you're going to sleep some too?” Korra asks, fighting back a yawn.

Asami nods, “If that's okay with you.”

“Yeah,” Korra looks around as they walk to her room, “Just take the bed,” she tells the other girl, moving the gym bag to the end of the bed, “I'll take the floor.”

“Korra, there's room for both of us,” Asami responds, “I won't let you take the floor.” She crosses her arms with a frown.

“Asami, it's fine.”

“You're exhausted and neither of us is letting the other sleep on the floor. You don't want to bother Tenzin to find another room for me, so we share.”

“Fine,” Korra nods, flopping onto the bed, letting Asami take the wall.

“I'm going to tell the boys tonight, that I'm, I was with Amon, they deserve to know, and with everything about to blow up, they deserve to know.” Asami tells Korra, who nods.

“Sounds good,” she mumbles into the pillow, “Night, Sami,”

“It's 6am, Korra.” Korra shushes her, Asami laughs despite herself, “Night, Korra,” several minutes later she hears the Avatar’s breath even, “Love you, Korra.” Before closing her own eyes and curling into the bender’s side.

•••••

Korra wakes up to the warning bell ringing all over the island, “Fuck,” she murmurs pushing herself up as Asami wakes too.

“What's that?”

“The island is under attack,” Korra tells her, grabbing the bag from the foot of her bed, throwing it over her shoulder, “Let’s go meet the boys and see what's going on.”

Asami nods, following the Avatar as she runs out of the room like wild hog monkey.

“Tenzin?” Korra calls as they get to the courtyard, looking up she sees two Equalists airships approaching the island.

“Korra.”

“You and your family have to get out of here.” Korra tells her airbending master, “Me and the White Lotus will hold them off.”

“Not happening, Korra.” Lin frowns, “You kids are going into hiding too.” She tells them as and acolyte leads Mako and Bolin to beside her and Asami, handing the nonbender a bag, “Tenzin, she's right, you and your family have to go, you're the last airbenders. I'll come with you to help protect you guys.”

The airbender frowns, then nods, “Thank you, old friend.”

“Avatar Korra, Master Tenzin, The White Lotus will stay and provide you all with as much time as possible.” One of the sentries tells her.

“No,” Korra shakes her head, “you guys and the acolytes, all abandon the island, I don't need anyone losing their bending to protect me.”

“Our duty is to protect the Avatar. We will not abandon that duty, Avatar Korra.” He responds, before bowing and taking off.

Hearing the ships rapidly approaching, Lin looks to Korra, “Six Earth Kingdom states and the United Forces are on their way to provide you backup,” she hands Korra a paper, “Here's all we have, Now you kids get out of here!” She yells.

Korra nods, “See you guys on the other side.” She moves towards the city, “Naga!” She calls, the turns to the others, stepping onto the water, creating a large sheet of ice, that Naga easily fits on, “Come on, let's go!” She tells the others, who jump on, Pabu on Mako’s shoulder, she breaks the ice off, starring it towards the city, then away towards the mountains surrounding the city.

“Where are we going, Korra?” Bolin asks.

“Back in the early days of the Hundred Years' War, earthbending guerrilla fighters created hundreds of miles of tunnels, all throughout the mountains,” Korra explains as they make landfall, Mako helps Asami and Korra off before he and Bolin jump off, followed by Naga, “We should be able to find shelter there for awhile.”

Mako nods, “Sounds good.”

As they begin walking along the cliff face, Korra keeping her hand along the wall, feeling for any sign of the caves, Asami stops, arms crossed, “Mako, Bolin, before we go any further, there's something I have to tell you,” she tells them as they turn to face her. She takes a deep breath and begins explaining.

 


	26. Chapter 26

Six days after the Equalists had taken over the island, Korra, Bolin and Mako wait on the dock, her hair is down and both the boy’s hair are hidden by hats, frowning as they notice ships coming into doc, “I’m going to go tell General Iroh not to come any further.” Korra begins, about ready to jump into the water.

“Are you sure Asami’s right about this? What if she’s just pulling our chain?” Mako asks, grabbing the Avatar’s shoulder with a deep frown etched into his face.

“She hasn’t before, and we don’t have the luxury of doubt at the moment, there’s at least 2,500 people out there, if there are mines in that water, how many are dead or bound to be captured if we doubt and we’re wrong?” Korra responds before pulling her arm away from the firebender, “I’ll be back.” She smiles at him before jumping in, propelling herself through the ice to the lead ship, creating a water spout and jumping on.

“Halt,” a firebender with a deep voice demands, “Who are you?”

“I’m Avatar Korra, you need to stop the ships now, you’re about to bring them right into a minefield.” Korra explains, hands raised in a peaceful gesture, “I need to talk to General Iroh, please.”

After a moment her nods, turning to a waterbender, “Get the General, Corporal, and tell the Captains to stop the ship.”

“Yes sir,” the woman nods before running off.

Several minutes of tense silence later, she feels the ship pull to a halt and a voice behind her greets her, “Avatar Korra,” a man in his mid thirties bows.

“General Iroh,” she guesses, “It’s so great that you guys are here.” She then frowns, “We need to get everyone to shore, but not on the boats, there are mines all over, we can defend against an aerial attack but not if these boats sink.”

The General nods, “What should we do, Avatar?”

She points to a small path, “I'm going to create a path of ice through the water, my friends Mako and Bolin will lead your soldiers through the sewers to the forest to our base. We can regroup there.”

General Iroh nods, “I'll radio my officers.”

Korra nods, freezing a path back to the dock, almost six inches thick and fifteen feet wide, “Three at a time, carefully,” she orders, motioning for everyone to go, after maybe seventy five people have gotten onto the dock, Iroh returns, Korra looks up as she hears a loud roaring sound. A machine with wings, followed closely by bombs being dropped, “Let’s go,” she grabs the Fire Nation Prince and jumps onto the ice, several soldiers following her closely, as she keeps hold on the General. One of the explosions happening only ten feet away from them.

“You okay?” she hears Bolin ask as they get into the sewer, of the over 2000 soldiers, maybe 100 are in the sewer with them, she looks over the battlefield, looking for any survivors.

“I'm fine, Bolin.” She nods, suddenly the Earth Kingdom Soldiers seem to be needed.

“You guys get out of here,” Mako says, “When the heat dies down I'll try and find and survivors.”

“No, you go, bro, I can get back into the hideout.” Bolin interrupts, stepping towards the opening.

Sighing, the firebender nods, “Let’s go,” he starts walking into the sewer.

The remaining soldiers look toward Iroh, “You heard them, let’s go.” He and Korra bring up the rear.

•••••

After almost five miles, the sewer opens in the woods, right in front of the cliffs they’ve been staying in, “Everyone okay?” Korra asks again as she closes the grate behind them.

“Burnt and bruised, but we're okay, Avatar Korra,” a waterbender responds.

Korra nods, stepping in front of the group, pulling open the cliff and leading them in.

“We've been sleeping over there,” she points to the large room to the right, “planning over there,” a smaller room with a table and maps everywhere, along with a small radio and three Equalist uniforms, along with several weapons, bender and equality alike, “Healing in the back,” a medium room with several raised Earth beds and bowls of water, “And anything else in here,” the main chamber with a fire pit, a couple Earth bent tables and chairs, “Earthbenders can bend whatever we need.”

Iroh looks around, “This is more than I expected actually.”

Korra smiles and nods, suddenly the radio cackles to life, “Zhou to General Rika.”

Korra grabs the radio, “Rika here, do you copy?” she answers.

“We’re at 47.21 and 23.76, ready for randevu, if you are?”

“On it,” she nods, looking at the map, “Be at 47.72 and 22.30, at 1730.”

“Copy,” The voice says.

“I’m going to go meet them,” she looks at Mako, “We’re on surveillance tonight for Amon’s rally, in theory, Omashu, Hong, Jiyi, Chu, Zaofu.” the wall to the outside world opens and Bolin enters with maybe 20 wet and injured United Forces soldiers.

“Me and Bolin have it,” Iroh interrupts, “We can get all of them.”

Korra nods, “Okay then,” she opens the wall, “Be back quick, Mako can fill you in on the plan we have, do you have anyone who knows how to heal?”

Nine of the soldiers in blue raise their hands, “We have them, Avatar,” a man in his late twenties promises as the injured are ushered to the back.

Korra nods before pulling her hood up, and walking out of the cave.

•••••

Kuvira has always liked the Zaofu guard uniform, even from the age of eight she has known it’s meant safety and power. When she first put it on, she felt that exude from her person. At this point in time, however, she can’t help but hate the metal plates making it difficult for her and the other guards to slip silently through the woods. As the trees rustle around them, she motions everyone to stop, the rustling continues, “Show yourself,” she orders, her metal cables prepared to attack as she steps closer to the clearing.

A man in a red uniform steps out, hands raised calmly, “I'm General Iroh of the United Forces.”

Kuvira nods, dropping her hands just a bit, “Lieutenant Kuvira, Zaofu Guard.” She responds as the others come out the woods and into the clearing.

Iroh nods, another group of soldiers, looking to be Earth Kingdom, though the one leading them looks to be younger than Kuvira, “This is Bolin, he's a friend of Avatar Korra,” he motions to the young boy, “And General Linga, from Jiyi.”

Kuvira nods and bows, which is returned in kind.

“We're about two miles out from base,” Bolin explains, “My brother Mako and Korra will meet us back there, Amon has a rally tonight and they have a plan, Korra wants to end them as soon as possible.”

Kuvira nods, “Sounds like Korra,” she murmurs, a small smile playing on her lips as Iroh starts moving further into the woods.

“So, Zaofu,” Bolin says coming up beside her. Kuvira raises an eyebrow, looking at the boy, before nodding, “Korra says you guys have a large portion of metalbenders.”

Kuvira bites her lip to stop from laughing, “Yeah, she would know, she lived with us for ten months,” the boy wants to talk about metalbending, he can work up the courage to ask.

Bolin nods, “She mentioned that,” he sighs, “I've been trying to get my mind around metalbending, Korra says you have to find the earth in the metal, be unmovable yet malleable.”

Kuvira nods again, “That's what Suyin taught me and that's what I taught Korra.” She shrugs, “It's earth, yet you have to treat it as its own element as well.”

“You're Kuvira,” The boy smiles.

“Yeah? I already said that,” she frowns.

“Your Korra's Kuvira,” Bolin begins, “She didn't tell us th-” there's several thumps, followed by whirling from electricity.

“Fuck,” Kuvira hears one of the other soldiers cuss as suddenly they're surrounded by ten Equalists, Kuvira sends a band of metal towards one of them closest to her and Bolin, not stopping to see where it lands as she moves to bend another strip, only to feel electricity flow through her body, then she can't feel her arms of legs as one of the Equalists chi blocks her, easily dodging the other’s attacks as they dodge and block and attack with their electrical weapons.

By the time everything is calm, only three of the Equalist are still standing, one of them looks at the other two, “Check on the others, and you help me bind these savages.”

Kuvira vaguely feels her hands raised before feeling something rough around her wrists, followed by the cold of metal, “When I get out, I will end you.” She growls.

“Li, Gyini, and Takumi are dead. And the others need medical attention now.”

The leader nods, “You two, take the others back, get them help, I have these bending freaks under control.”

After the remaining Equalist walk or hobble away, the Equalist turns to the benders, taking a swing at Kuvira's jaw, who has no choice but to take it, his gauntlet splitting her lip, figuring she just needs to wait twenty minutes for her and the other’s bending to return, she grins, “That all you got?” She spits a combination of blood and spit onto his mask. For a moment she swears she sees movement in the woods, but before she can react, the man pulls her to the ground, kicking her four times, three in the side and once more on her right leg, and once more, this one skimming her shoulder and jaw, hitting her neck. She gasps in pain, attempting to bring her hand up to defend herself.

“Oh, no you don't!” He growls, chi blocking her in her neck, suddenly she can't move at all.

“Hey,” a voice nearby says, “Leave her alone!”

“Sounds fine to me, kid, you're next.” He moves to her right. Bolin.

Before he can make another move, another Equalist in a chi blocker’s uniform, the first Equalist stops, snapping to attention, “Captain!” Kuvira forces her eyes to stay open, not knowing if this is about to get better or worse for all of them.

 


	27. Chapter 27

The higher ranking Equalist is the one to speak first, "Leave. Amon wants everyone at the rally tonight and clearly you can't be trusted to do your job quickly."

"But-"

The second Equalists interrupts, "I'm not going to tell you again, my brother."

The first Equalist nods, starts walking away, the second Equalist walks up to Kuvira, who scowls as much as she can with her rabidly bruising face, "Raava, San, what did you to this one."

"Kept back talking, plus it kept the others quiet, remember that, Captain." The nonbender, apparently called San, says  
  
"Go," the second, still unnamed, Equalists orders.

"So, what are you gonna do to us," Anaya, one of the newer guards on this assignment, asks as San disappears further into the woods, "Not like we're going to tell you anything to tell to your boss."

"Anaya," Kuvira growls, as much as she can with her throats killing her, "Shut up."

"Yes, lieutenant."

"Tight leash you keep," the Equalist says, Kuvira's almost certain is smiling, "Even when you're in no position to, you give orders." Two more sets of foot steps seem to be coming from the right, "I was wondering what was taking you so long."

"We got a little caught up," a male voice says, Kuvira catches Bolin and General Iroh slouch their shoulders in relief, "Ready?"

"Yeah," the first Equalist nods, "Get up," she tells them, Iroh and Bolin are the first to move, slowly everyone who isn't stands, the as yet mute Equalist takes a couple steps towards Kuvira, before helping her up.

Without thought, Kuvira attempts to bend one of the strips of metal into the Equalist, only for the strips to drop like dead weight to the floor, her bending is coming back, but not enough.

The Equalist laughs softly, "Cheap shot, Vira," they say in a familiar voice.

"Kor-"

She's cut off by the male Equalist, "You have the key?" He asks the first.

"Yep," she tosses a set of them towards Korra, then looks too Iroh, "We're going to let you out, but by the looks of it, you're pretty powerfully chi blocked, so take it easy. When everyone's good to walk, you follow us." Before anyone can agree, she tosses a third set of keys towards Korra, who catches them, quickly unlocking Kuvira's chains, before cutting the ropes, the handle flipped to show the Water Tribe symbol before moving onto the next metal bender, passing one of the knives to the first person in an Equalist uniform, they're making quick work, until they're almost all released.

Two of the soldiers from Jiyi attack as soon as they're released, one of the firebenders and one of the earthbenders send several bursts of fire and rocks. "Hey," Korra calls, bending both the fire and earth away, suddenly everyone is silent, "Kay, now that that's over, can we all just get along?" Near perfect silence falls as they unlock the last couple benders.

"You two got it?" The first, still unnamed, Equalist asks.

"We got it," Korra nods, "Meet you later to iron out the plan."

The other Equalist nods before leaving.

"Let's go, we have quite a hike," the male in the Equalist suit states.

"He's right," General Iroh nods.

"If these two," Anaya asks, pointing to both Bolin and Iroh, "Know who you are. Why keep the masks on?"

"Cause there are actual Equalists in the woods. And as lovely as my interactions with Amon have been, it's about 1000 times easier to get everyone out of here safely with them on." Korra explains, turning to Kuvira as the boy in the Equalist mask looks towards Bolin, "How's your chi, still blocked?"

Looking at her soldiers, Kuvira nods, "Not full power yet, but I think it's wearing off."

Korra nods, "Let's get out of here, we have healers and supplies, and we have a plan," she looks to Iroh, "If everything goes right, we're going to take back the city and are going to end this by this time tomorrow."

•••••

Even with the pain, Kuvira can't help but be impressed at the cave that looks to be headquarters to the Avatar and company's resistance.

The Male voiced Equalist takes his mask off to reveal a boy about her age, his hair spiked and a strong jaw line. She notices many of the people shift around her as if to finally catch a glimpse of the Avatar, only to be disappointed as she instead turns to Iroh, "after anyone who needs it is healed, I want all the leaders in the planning room," she doesn't remove the mask before going to one of the side caves, Kuvira catches a glimpse of a map of the United Republic before it's closed.

  
•••••

After repeatedly lying through her teeth that she's fine, Kuvira follows the other leaders into the side room, only to see Korra, holding the Equalist mask she had been wearing just minutes earlier.

"Hey," Korra smiles, putting the Equalist mask on the table with a crooked grin.

"Hey," Kuvira lets a small smile pull at her lips.

"You look like crap," Korra notes looking over the bruises on Kuvira's jaw, neck and eye, the cut lip and favoring of her right side doesn't help either, more the slight wheeze in her breath.

"You should see yourself then," Kuvira smirks, a cut on her cheek and looking like she hasn't slept in at least 3 weeks, maybe a month, "We had some problems with the Equalists on the way here."

"Hmm," Korra nods, feigning ignorance, "Everyone else okay?"

Iron steps in, "Korra, this is Lieutenant Kuvira leader of the regiment from-"

"Zaofu," Korra interrupts nodding, "I know."

The General frowns looking between the two woman, "You two know each other?"

"Yeah."

"Yes."

Korra's smile gets larger, "Great to see you, Vira."

"You too, Avatar," Kuvira smiles, "Though, you know, getting in the middle of a war, wouldn't have happened if you had stayed."

Korra laughs taking a couple steps closer to the lieutenant, who pulls her into a hug, "Where would be the fun in that?" She murmurs into Kuvira's ear.

"So, what's the plan?" Kuvira asks as Korra pulls away.

Korra bites her lip, "You're not going to like it," she admits, leading Kuvira and Iroh to a table surrounded by several other military leaders, all older than Kuvira, most older than Iroh, and all but one male with a map of Republic City, and begins explaining the plan.

•••••

"You were right," Kuvira nods, looking at Korra, "I don't like this plan." The other generals look okay, but their troops have the much easier and relatively safer jobs of taking out smaller Equalist hubs and headquarters, not getting captured by the enemy to get close enough to end them, or lose their bending. Kuvira trusts her guards and Korra, but too much could go wrong.

Korra looks at her, "Got any other plans? I'm all ears."

"What if we don't get to you in time and he removes your bending?"

  
Iroh motions the other leaders out, everyone but Mako and Bolin leave as Korra responds, "Then I go Avatar State on his ass."

"And Bloodbending? That couldn't be a problem?"  
Kuvira responds, taking a step closer to Korra, too close

"Like I said, any other suggestions,” Korra shrugs. Her hands spread on either side of the marked up map, “I'm more than willing to hear them," she turns to face Kuvira.

Kuvira pauses for a moment before sighing, then nodding, "I'll go tell them, we'll be where you need us," she turns, walking out of the room.

Korra herself sighs, "Okay,” She looks towards Mako and Bolin, then back at Kuvira’s back, “Try to get some food and get some sleep, tomorrow's going to be a long day." Before leaving the room.

•••••

"Hey," Korra grins softly, "Not much but it's something," she hands the bowl to Kuvira.

The older girl sighs, arms still crossed, "Thanks, Korra."

"Okay, did you forget to tell me that brooding became a sport? And that you apparently won first?" Korra frowns, watching the other girl, before sighing, "Talk to me, Vira, what's wrong?" Having an idea but wanting the older girl to tell her herself.

"Korra…" Kuvira sighs, putting the bowl down, "It's nothing, I'm fine," she shakes her head.

"Aw, come on, Vira, I may be dead this time tomorrow," She ignores the quick breath Kuvira takes at the sentence, "I won't be able to tell anyone," She gives the guard a small smile, "Promise."

Kuvira finally looks at the Avatar, who flinches back at the anger in the shiny eyes, "How the fuck can you joke like that, Korra?"

Korra raises both hands in surrender, "Hey, I didn't mean it like that," she brings one hand down onto Kuvira's upper arm, "Kuvira-"

She shrugs the hand off, "No, Korra, they could kill you. With this plan, you could die, and you don't seem to care."

"I honestly don't, can't, it's my duty as Avatar to keep balance, and if that means dying to keep Republic City, the beacon of hope for the world living in peace, from falling to this tyrant," Korra sighs and shrugs, "There's always another Avatar."

"There won't be another you!" Kuvira growls, moving closer to Korra, "Yeah, sure the Avatar Cycle will make sure there's another Avatar, but there won't be another Korra, and now you're offering yourself up like a pig-sheep for slaughter for them to remove your bending or kill you."

"Then so be it," Korra shrugs. She sees the metal on Kuvira's wrist move around her palm before the metalbenders raises her hand to slap the Avatar, only to be stopped less than an inch away by Korra catching her wrist. The Avatar gives a small laugh, "Cheap shot, Vira," she grins, keeping hold of the wrist, "Now that I have you, can I please check out your side."

"I'm fine, Avatar," Kuvira hisses, looking behind them to see if anyone is close, "I'm not the one neigh on suicidal here."

"You're not fine, and you suck at hiding the limp you've had since I first saw you today, and I can hear your breathing, Vira. Even if you hate the plan you're not going in with presumably half your body bruised." She stands, offering Kuvira a hand, "Please? I promise we can heat up your food in just a minute, let me check you out."

"'Check me out'" Kuvira echoes with a teasing grin, realizing she can't convince the Avatar at the moment, "Should I tell Sato she has competition?" She takes Korra's hand as the Avatar blushes slightly.

"Not sure what's worse, you bringing that up at all or you comparing yourself to my ex-girlfriend, who though helpful now, did also betray me," Korra groans, before pulling Kuvira to her feet, watching as a flash of pain crosses the metalbender's face, though it's quickly schooled.

As they enter an empty room, Korra closes it off from the rest of the hall, "Want me to check how fucked your ribs and chest are or how badly you've managed to mangle your leg first?" She asks with a teasing grin, “Or perhaps make sure you're face stays beautiful and you can still breath when you head back to Zaofu.”

"Chest," Kuvira says perhaps too quickly, eyes looking anywhere but Korra.

The Avatar frowns, but nods, "Can you take your shirt off yourself, or do you need some help?"

Kuvira nods, bending the metal armor off, before starting to take her shirt off, only getting half way before groaning in pain as she pulls her side wrong. "Here," she hears Korra murmur softly before she feels the Avatar carefully finish removing her shirt, leaving her in just her undershirt and bindings. She then, just as gently, begins removing the undershirt, running her knuckles across Kuvira's bare side, causing the metalbender to let out a painful gasp as bright blue eyes flash to dark green, she pulls away, eyes screwed shut. Korra stops, watching her friends, "It's just me, Vira," she murmurs softly with a frown, seeing the other girl shaking softly she takes half a step closer, "Hey, what's wrong, what can I do?"

Kuvira shakes her head, eyes still shut, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, please stop," she half says half begs, her breathing rapidly speeding up.

"Kuvira, it's just me," Korra tells the panicking girl, "It's just me. It's just Korra. I'm not going to hurt you. I got you, it's okay. How can I help?"

Kuvira slowly opens her eyes just a bit, they both ignore the tears pricking in her vision, "Korra?" The voice is far too soft to have come from Kuvira but Korra nods nonetheless, "I'm here, Vira."

"Korra." This time the name's much calmer, Korra takes a step closer, now an arms length away.

She smiles softly, "I got you, Kuvira," it's a promise as easy to make as breathing.

"Korra," The name's repeated once more as the Zaofu guard takes a step closer, half leaning into the Avatar, a few tears falling. “I'm sorry.”

Korra carefully wraps her arms around her first friend, "It'll be okay. I got you, Vira. I'm here. It's okay. I'm here."

The consoling litany fights against Kuvira's own, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry. Please stop, I'm sorry. Stop." The older girl breaths into Korra's shoulder, clinging to the Avatar, who gently rubs her back, running her other hand through Kuvira's hair, unphased even as Kuvira's nails begin to dig into her back.

Slowly, Kuvira falls silent, and the slight shaking stops. Taking one more breath, she steps away, looking at her hands careful to avoid anywhere near the Avatar, "I'm so sorry, Korra."

Korra frowns, knowing the signs of the other girl shutting down. She shakes her head sadly, "It's fine, Vira. Want to talk about it?"

She shakes her head, "Korra…" she sighs, "I can't."

"Okay," Korra nods smoothly, "Can I see your side, please, Vira? If you don't want me to I won't."

Kuvira nods, seeming to pause before nodding again, "I'm sorry, Korra," she carefully lifts the undershirt off.

"Shit, Kuvira," Korra softly gasps, "there's more bruises than unbruised skin," she notes a circular burn on the guard's shoulder.

"Like I said, we had a bit of a run in with the Equalists," Kuvira shrugs, "Im sure they have just as many on them."

Korra hums in response, pulling water out of a nearby bowl, "You're okay with me touching you to heal, right?" She asks softly.

Kuvira nods, looking down at her hands, "Tell me to stop whenever," the Avatar murmurs before starting, her hands glowing as she starts on the burns from the gloves, "Anyone else that should be checked out?"

"They made a point to go after the leaders, I didn't give them time to doubt that I was one. Any other injuries we had checked out already."

"Why didn't you get checked out too?" Korra frowns, moving to the girl's side.

Kuvira shrugs, "it's fine."

Korra sighs and nods, "This plan," she sighs again, "We're out of options here, Kuvira. I trust Bolin. I trust Mako, and Asami. I trust Iroh. I trust you. I trust you to have my back. And I trust that this won't go wrong." Korra sighs, moving her hands to continue healing, "Honestly, after almost a week of them being in charge, my back's against the wall, I don't know what else I can do, Vira. They're removing people's bending and throwing them in prison, 2, 3, 4 year olds, who are just showing signs of bending. And that's the best case scenario, half the time they just go straight to killing them. It's my job to stop it." She pauses, with a shaky half laugh, "The Avatar needs to stop them."

  
Kuvira nods, “Just remember the people who need Korra, believe me there's quite a few of us,” she sighs, looking down at her still slightly shaking hand, “I can't tell you because it's my fault,” she breaths, barely audible.

“What is?” Korra asks, putting the water back into the bowl, handing Kuvira her undershirt back, “Come on Vira, what reason have I ever given for you to doubt me?” She takes a seat beside Kuvira, a soft smile.

"It's not that I don't trust you." Kuvira quickly turns to look at Korra, "I just- I don't want to see the pity or shame or disgust in your eyes when you look at me." She looks back down at her knees.

"Please, Vira, look at me," Korra begs. Slowly but surely Kuvira turns to look at the Avatar, her eyes filled with tears again, "I won't ever look at you with pity. I don't think I could ever do that. Please, Vira, talk to me. Please." Offering Kuvira her hand.

Hesitantly Kuvira nods, turning her eyes away from Korra but hesitantly taking the offered hand, "You can't tell anyone about this, especially Su."

Korra frowns but nods, "I won't, I promise." Korra would agree to anything she needs to know so she can help however she can.

"When you're starting in the Zaofu guard, after you finish training, they pair you with someone of a higher rank, to show you the ropes and the like." Korra nods when Kuvira pauses, the guard swallows thickly before pushing on, "Well, one night, maybe two months after training finished, there was a party for the guards for something or another. And I got more than a little drunk, not enough to black out or anything, but definitely more than I should've at 16. Well the guy I was partnered with, he…" Kuvira let's out a small shaky sigh, "Well, I couldn't bend particularly well cause of the alcohol, and he took advantage of that. He pinned me to one of the beds and…" she stops, letting out a shaky breath, “I told him no.” She defends, looking at Korra, her eyes wide

"He raped you?" Korra states more than questions, feeling her rage at the unnamed Zaofu guard boil.

Kuvira feels herself nod, "I let him rape me." She repeats it out loud for the first time, her entire body tense as she waits for Korra to pull away, demand she go back to Zaofu. When that doesn't happen she continues desperately, "I- I tried to stop him," she needs Korra to know that, she prays to Oma and Shu that the Avatar understands that.

“I know,” Korra breathes nodding, squeezing the metalbender’s hand, “I know,” she repeats, “I know you did.”

Relief washes over the metalbender at the words. She can't hold back the tears at the words, Korra believes her the guard bites her lip for a moment before leaning in to hug the Avatar, who gladly accepts it, Kuvira feels a few more tears fall, “I know you did. I got you. You're okay now. Hey, he can't hurt you anymore. I got you. It'll be okay." She repeats the litany into Kuvira's shoulder, unsure what else to say to comfort the girl.

For several minutes, they just stay like that, Korra feels Kuvira's breath even out, “Kuv-”

The guard leans away from Korra, “You can't tell… please."

Korra sighs but nods, "I won't," pushing bangs away from green eyes, "I promise I won't."

Kuvira sighs in relief nodding a bit.

"Hey, why didn't you tell me, Kuvira? Tell anyone? I-" Korra asks softly

"I didn't want you to-I thought you'd look at me different- it… it was my fault, I was so stupid,” the older girl stumbles through an explanation, running her hand through her hair.

"Vira, you maybe made a mistake. That doesn't make what he did your fault. That doesn't mean you deserved what he did." Korra responds, "I would never look at you differently over something like that." Kuvira sighs in relief at the promise, after a few minute, Korra stands, “I'm going to assume your leg’s bruised too?”

“It's fine, Avatar, I can deal with it,” Kuvira shakes her head.

Korra shakes her head, “If you're up for it, I would like it if you came with me and Mako as we go iron out the final bit of the plan with Asami. Make sure we're good to go tomorrow on her end,” She gives her a look, “It'd be great if you weren't limping as were already dealing with stumbling through these woods. Let me help, Vira.”

After a moment Kuvira nods, “It's just my knee,” she explains revealing the bruised and battered legs.

Korra tisks softly, checking out the knee before healing it, “This was the reason I didn't want you to come here, I didn't want to see you hurt, Vira. Because this stupid city turned war zone that I should've stopped.”

“Hey, you're not responsible for everyone, Korra. I've got your back, no matter what, that's not going to change.”

“You're right, I suppose,” Korra cups Kuvira's cheek, easily healing the bruises on her face and the cut on her lip, her other hand over the dark bruise on her neck. Kuvira tries to look away, but is sucked into the ocean of blue, the storm of emotion clear in the Avatar's eyes to her, though masked almost entirely by a calm facade, after perhaps a few moments too long, Korra steps away slightly, “Done.”

Kuvira unconsciously runs her hand across her jaw, “Thanks, Avatar,” she smiles softly.

Korra nods, “We'll leave in twenty, if you want to go that is?”

“Yeah,” Kuvira nods, “Definitely,” she grins softly

•••••

The walk through the woods isn't as bad as it could've been, both Korra and Mako know the path very well, “I'm taking scouting tonight,” Mako reminds Korra, “So I’m not going back with you, you’ll be okay?” giving Kuvira a sideways glance.

“Yeah, we’ll be fine, Mako,” Korra nods as they come to a large clearing, Kuvira finds herself reaching for one of her metal bands as Mako lights a small fire in his palm, giving them just enough light to see the other figure in the clearing, in Equalist clothes though without the mask. The girl has green eyes and black hair, only a little bit shorter than Mako, Asami Sato.

“Korra, Mako,” the Heiress smiles slightly, taking a step closer to all of them, “So, what's the plan?” She asks, Kuvira bites her lips to stop from reacting when the Equalist glove lands on Korra's shoulder, the wearer giving a puppy dog smile.

“You're leading the raids on Yangchen Heights tomorrow?” Korra checks.

“Yeah,” Asami nods with a frown.

“You'll find a couple of firebenders that are going to give a fight.” Korra sighs, “Me and Mako.”

Asami takes a quick breath, then nods.

“Same time, you'll also find that the bases are being taken by the other Earth States, and the United Forces. The benders that haven't lost their bending are still being held at the Probending Arena?”

“Yes, and anyone who has some political power.”

“Bolin and Zaofu, they're going to take the arena.”

Asami nods, looking at Kuvira for the first time, “Sounds like a plan, suppose I'll see you tomorrow.”

Kuvira nods, keeping a straight face. Her hands curl into fists however

“Good, we're going to try and end this by this time tomorrow.”

“Or all go down in flames,” Mako murmurs quietly, Kuvira can't help but agree with him. Korra sighs, but nods. Mako grabs his mask and puts it on, Asami does the same.

“Oh,” Asami turns, “Catch,” she tosses two things towards Korra who catches it easily, “You're a bit noticeable, new things that Future Industries was trying out.”

Korra nods, putting both items in her pocket, before taking a step back as Mako kills the flame.

•••••

As they walk back down the path, Korra looks skyward, catching glimpses of the stars between the trees, “If nothing else, the power outages give us a chance to see the stars, haven't seen those much since I left the pole.” Korra had mentioned the Equalists had begun cutting the power at nightfall only a day after taking over.

Kuvira looks up when Korra pauses, “I haven't seen them since I was eight, the domes are always closed before they're out.”

“That's Aang’s Arrow,” she points to a set of eight stars, peeking through the clouds, “It always points you North, and that,” she points to a box of stars, “is Tatsuki’s shield, a Water Tribe warrior,” frowning as clouds begin to roll in.

“Star gazing important to be the Avatar?” Kuvira asks, looking at Korra's face instead of the sky. Feeling her heart seem to jump into her throat as the Avatar grins.

Korra shrugs, “Kya and Katara taught me, for sailing, finding my way, they're the same here as they are back home, at the South Pole.” She shakes her head, looking back to Kuvira with a small smile, “Sorry, we should be heading back,” she looks over her shoulder, seeing a small glimpse of the darkened Republic City, before taking two steps closer to the older girl, “Easy to forget we're at war, huh?”

Kuvira doesn't answer, biting her lip softly before shaking her head, “Come on, Avatar, let's get back.” She murmurs as the wind picks up, “Looks like we're about to get wet.”

Korra lets out a small laugh, “Cause that's our biggest issue.” Kuvira doesn't answer, and is silent the remaining half hour walk. As they approach the small indent in the earth signaling the hideout, “Hey,” Korra calls softly, grabbing Kuvira's shoulder, easily stepping in front of the guard, noticing she won't meet her eye, “Everything okay, Vira? Did I do something?”

“Nothing, Korra,” she shakes her head, giving a ghost of a smile, “Nothing for you to worry about, I'm just being stupid,” she attempts to sidestep the Avatar.

“Kuvira, come on, what's wrong?” Korra frowns, stepping a bit closer to her friend.

Kuvira jumps as lightning strikes, the rain beating on the tree leaves, she feels the first drops hit her face, though she doesn't blink, “It's raining, Korra. We should go in,” but she finds herself drowning in blue eyes, “Like I said, it's stupid,” she takes a half step away, still too close to the Avatar to think.

Korra raises her free hand, the water creates an umbrella around them, though Kuvira's sure she also removed the air as she feels like she can hardly hear anything, only able to hear Korra’s and her own breathing and her heartbeat pounding in her ears and throat, “I doubt it's that stupid, come on, Vira. It'll be okay.”

“Korra…” Kuvira sighs.

“I'm terrified I'm going to fail.” Korra states, running her hand through her hair, “I don't know what I'm doing and everyone's looking at me.”

“Korra, It's nothing like that.” Kuvira repeats, “It’s moronic, I shouldn't be thinking about this now, Avatar.”

“Then what is it, Vira?” Korra demands, “What did I do, Kuvira, please, tell me.”

“Nothing,” Kuvira shakes her head before taking a deep breath, closing her eyes and stepping forward, catching the Avatar's jaw, “It's nothing, Korra,” she repeats, praying to whatever spirits she can think of that Korra believes her and she doesn't have to go any further and fuck everything up.

“Kuvira…” Korra frowns.

Before she can convince herself not to, Kuvira leans forward close the distance between the two of them, catching Korra’s lips with her own. After a moment, she feels Korra lean forward a bit. For just a moment Kuvira allowed herself to close her eyes, allowing herself to enjoy the moment as she closes her eyes. She vaguely feels the water Korra had been holding up splash on her as the younger girl's arm drops, resting gently on the guard’s waist. After several seconds she pulls away, a small smile pulling on her lips. Then looking at Korra, blue eyes widened in shock, she drops her hand cursing herself mentally as she and Korra stare at each other, both breathing raggedly, the rain pounding on them, Kuvira takes a few steps away, “I- I told you it was stupid.” She covers her mouth, “I'm so sorry, Korra, I shouldn't’ve done that,” she takes another step back, “Oma and Shu, I'm so sorry Korra.” She stumbles backwards.

“Kuvira…” Korra begins, reaching her hand out towards the guard, “Hey-” she attempts to calm the older girl, her mind buzzing with a slight high from the kiss, only to be interrupted by Kuvira shaking her head again, half stumbling, half stepping back.

“I'm so sorry…” Kuvira repeats, stepping around the Avatar, opening the hill to enter the hideout.

“Kuvira,” Korra sighs, running her hands through her hair, sighing, leaning against the dirt wall for several minutes, her eyes closed as she looks skyward, feeling the raindrops land on her face, she raises her hand to trace her lips. Eventually, she stands, rolling her shoulders before opening the hideout herself.

“Hey, Korra,” She hears Bolin from across the room before she sees him.

“Hey, Bo,” She says waterbending herself dry.

“We were about to start a quick Pai Sho tournament, want to join?” He smiles at her.

She sighs, looking around for any sign of Kuvira but finding none, “You know, Bolin, I'm sorry, it's been a long day,” she pulls her hair out of the braid she had had it in, “And tomorrow's going to be another long one, I think I'm just gonna try and meditate and get some sleep.”

“Okay,” the boy nods, “Sounds cool. Sounds good. I'll let the others know.”

“Thanks Bo,” Korra smiles softly, “And if you see Kuvira, please tell her I'd like to talk to her, let her know I'm not mad, but we really need to talk, preferably before everything goes down tomorrow.”

Bolin nods again, “If I see her, I’ll let her know.”

“Night Bolin,” she waves, walking towards one of the hallways.

“Night Korra, see you tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- so a couple things.
> 
> Korrasami is still endgame. But they will not be the only couple in this story, I'd love to hear your thoughts, but please remember flames will be used to roast marshmallows.
> 
> also, to the authors reading, WE NEED YOU :D to join Avatar: the Last Writer challenge topic/209605/169082257/1/Sign-up-Writers#169717053


	28. Chapter 28

  
Korra wakes at sunrise. Rubbing her eyes as she starts a fire in the main room, using the light to read the two bottles Asami had given her last night. The smaller one has clear liquid in it and a note, ‘3 drops in each eye will change your eye color for 48 hours.” Setting that one on an earthen table before looking over the second vile, this one larger, ‘Hair dye,’

  
An easy disguise, she sighs, dropping her face into her hands, “Aang, Roku, Kyoshi, Kuruk, what do I do. Is this the right thing to do, right?” She groans slamming her hands onto her knees, “It's all we've got, I have to,” she murmurs as she begins pacing around the main room.  
A rumbling stops her, she looks to the walls to see one of the walls opening, one of the many soldiers, the dark brown a sign of Hong, He bows, “good morning, Avatar.”

  
She nods, “Morning." Smiling, an easy disguise.

  
•••••

  
Over the next hour everyone else slowly wakes up, when Mako wakes, she pulls him to one of the many side rooms, handing him the clear liquid, “Three drops in each eye,” she tells him.

  
“What is it?” Mako frowns.

  
“From Asami, they're our disguise.”

  
“Korra, helping us or not, she's joined them, how do you know we can trust her?”

  
“Because we don't have another choice, Mako!” She growls, “We have people now, we can't let it continue, and if that means we trust Asami, I can't find another way!” She grabs the vile, putting three drops in each of her eyes, closing them with a small hiss of pain.

  
After a minute she opens them, “So?”

  
“Your eyes are brown,” Mako smiles, “How do you feel?”

  
The stinging is gone, she rubs under her eyes to get rid of tears that had made their way down her face, “Not that bad now.” She shrugs, handing the vial to Mako again, who sighs and does the same to his eyes, turning then an even darker shade of amber, turning them almost red.

  
“Wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be,” he shrugs.

  
“Now just do something about your hair, we can't be recognized tonight.”

  
Mako nods, “What are you going to do?”  
“I have a few ideas,” she grins, motioning him to leave.

  
•••••

  
Several hours of debating the plan later, Korra leaves the side room, her now jet black hair pulled into a bun. She spots Kuvira in the crowd, she quickly approaches the Zaofu guard.

  
“Hey,” she calls, putting her hand on Kuvira's shoulder, who turns slowly, eyes widening a bit before shifting to the ground, “Could we talk?” Seeing the other girl tense, “Please, Vira.”

  
The green eyed girl shakes her head, “Can we just forget anything happened last night, Korra? Please.”

  
Korra sighs, realizing her and Mako will have to leave anytime now, “We need to talk, Kuvira.” She runs her hand through her hair, “But I have to go, the raid, me and Mako have to get there. But please, can we talk after this is over, before you go back to Zaofu?”

  
Biting her lip, Kuvira nods, “After all this is over,” she finally looks up into Korra's eyes, “Be careful,” she slowly moves her hand to cup Korra's jaw before dropping it onto her upper arm instead, “Be safe. See you after this is over.”

  
“You too, Vira.” Korra nods, brushing a stray hair behind her ear before turning on her heel and walking to Mako, “Ready?”

  
“Let's do this,” he nods.

  
“Hey,” Bolin calls, stepping in front of them, “Be careful big bro.” He tells Mako.

  
“You too, little bro.” He smiled a little, pulling Bolin into a quick hug.

  
Then Bolin turns to Korra, “You too, Korra."

  
She pulls him into a hug, “See you after this is all over. Stay safe Bolin.” He smiles a bit.

  
Mako sighs and rolls his shoulders back, turning to Korra, “Let's go.”

  
Korra nods, “Be good, girl,” she murmurs to Naga as they pass by the polar bear dog and leave the cave.

  
•••••

  
As they get to Yangchen Heights, they hear yelling and crying. Korra sees a young child being pulled by an Equalist as her parents bend at them, trying to avoid their son. However instead of letting the kid go, another Equalist comes up behind the parents and shocks both of them.

  
“Hey!” Mako yells, firebending at the Equalist who has an iron grip on the kids wrist.

  
“Let them go!” Korra continues, sending hot blue fire at the second Equalist.

  
The boy pulls himself out of the man’s grip before running down the street, the Equalist cusses, turning to the other one, nursing a second degree burn on his shoulder, “Get him, I've got these two!”  
Both her and Mako let off a few easy shots, missing the man as he approaches and chi blocks both of them, Korra drops to her knees by Mako as the masked man grabs her arm, dragging her to a truck, tying her hands behind her back before doing the same to Mako, throwing them in with several other benders “You benders are all going to get what you deserve,” he growls slamming the door shut. Plunging them into darkness.

  
She rolls her shoulders slightly before looking around, “Everyone okay?”  
She gets a few groans and a few “yes”s before a woman cuts in, “They're taking us to Amon, kid. Of course we're not okay.”

  
Mako groans, “Calm down, worrying won't get us anywhere.”

  
“And what do you propose we do, boy.”  
“Just calm down, lady. And trust us.” Korra growls as an Equalist gets in the front of the car.

  
“Buckle up, everyone,” a familiar voice comes out of the chi blocker mask.  
Korra feels herself relax slightly as she realizes the plan is working.

  
•••••

  
The car pulls to a stop almost half an hour later by Korra’s approximation, as her bending is slowly but surely returning.

  
The light shines on her back as the door squeaks open, “Alright, let's go.” A voice growls, pulling Korra out by her wrist as she's asked for name and bending.

  
“Rika, fire,” she groans as Mako responds, “Cheki, fire.”

  
“Ah, more savages.”

  
“Cells 28F should be good,” Asami breaks in.

  
“Yes, Captain.” The man nods

  
“I'll take them,” Asami responds, hitting her hands to Korra and Mako’s shoulder, but not actually chi blocking them, grabbing either of their arms, walking them into the Probending arena.  
After they get through several hallways, Asami leans closer to Korra, “Amon caught Tenzin and the kids, he's going to remove their bending tonight in front of everyone. I'm so sorry, I tried to stop him. I can take you to them, and get you all out of here.”

  
Korra tenses before shaking her head, “No we stick to the plan. We aren't going to have another chance at this. And we'd almost guarantee the Zaofu guard will get caught if we do. We stick to it, and we'll get everyone out, okay?”

  
Asami and Mako nods, the Equalist more sure than the probender. Korra is lead by Asami into the cell, thankfully metal, Asami carefully palming a watch into Korra's hand, “Ninety minutes,” she murmurs.

  
“Ninety minutes,” Korra repeats as she sits in the cell, a small stream of moonlight crossing her face as she waits.

  
•••••

  
Kuvira takes a deep breath as they wait for the door to open for the arena.  
It opens just a bit to reveal someone in a chi mask, who removes it a bit to prove sure enough it's Asami. Who motions them in, allowing them to follow her through the halls, motioning to a few doors here and there, giving a guard a key for each one.

  
As they get to the end of the hall, a bell rings, “Fuck,” Asami murmurs.

  
“What?” Kuvira demands, feeling Bolin tense as Asami pushes a door open, revealing an empty room, cage doors open, “This just got a thousand times more complicated, they took them to Amon sooner then they were supposed to.”

  
“Who is they?” Bolin frowns.

  
“Mako and Korra.”

  
Kuvira sighs, looking over Bolin and Asami, “We finish the plan.” She forces herself to say against every cell in her body as she rolls her shoulders, stealing herself, “Where are the other prisoners.”

  
“There,” she points, “I'm going to go, help get Mako and Korra out of there, you guys can get out of here?”

  
“Yeah, go.” Kuvira nods, “We'll get you back up as soon as possible.”

  
Asami nods, making her way to the main arena.

  
•••••

  
Korra wiggles her wrist, feeling her hands graze along one of her daggers. Her attempts at escape are cut off as a spotlight falls on the stage, on Amon, “Welcome everyone, to tonight's main event!”

  
On the stage, four familiar figures are bound near Amon. Tenzin and the kids. Korra cuts through the ropes, ready to fight. She's not letting another person lose their bending, especially those kids.


	29. Chapter 29

Pushing the door Asami had told her the remaining prisoners were in, Kuvira enters, allowing Bolin to follow her as she looks around, the moonlight being the only way she can see. “Platinum,” she murmurs, “Looks like we'll need that key.”

Bolin nods, carefully unlocking the first cage, waking everyone in the room as he tosses the keys to Kuvira to unlock a few cells on her side, “Who are you?” A gravelly voice demands.

“Lieutenant Kuvira, from the Zaofu guard.” Kuvira responds, unlocking the next cell.

“Ah, so Su did send people,” the voice grunts, the woman it's attached grunts, helping the others up.

Before Kuvira can ask why this woman seem to have a problem with Su, Bolin interrupts, “When and how did you get caught, chief?”

“Bolin?” The woman's frown deepens, “Don't tell me, the others are here too?”

“Mako, Asami and Korra, they're all in the arena. And other Zaofu guards are releasing the other prisoners.” Bolin lists off, “We'll explain when we get everyone out of here, come on.” He motions, leading as Kuvira takes up the rear.

They're most the way out of the building, Kuvira hears footfalls coming behind them, turning, to see eight chi blockers are now chasing them, frowning, she pulls a metal gate across the hall, “Bolin, get everyone out of here, I'll meet up with you later.” She orders, binding two Equalist’s hands with metal bands, covering their mouths as she turns her attention to who looks to be the leader.

“Very brave, bender, not that it'll matter, we'll catch them as soon as we've killed you,” He growls.

“Cliche much?” Kuvira drawls, swiping her arm across the semi circle of Equalists surrounding her, hitting all five of them easily, when three of them drop, she can't bring herself to care at the moment if they never get up.

Before she can do anything else, the Equalists close in on her, forcing her to her knees as electricity courses through her. Groaning, she attempts to push herself to her feet, black rings forming around her vision she attempts to bend at the man again, only for him to electrocute her again, her vision goes dark as she sees another bolt of electricity above her.

•••••

“Korra, calm down,” Mako murmurs quietly, attempting to cut his own ropes.

Korra rolls her eyes, “Catch up,” she catapults herself on the stage, fire sweeping the Equalists that are on stage.

“Ah, a fighter, very well, you can go first.” Amon takes the interruption in stride, Korra can't help the grin, her disguise works.

As he approaches her, Mako jumps on the stage hitting the man in the chest, Korra uses the noise to metalbend the airbenders free. Instantaneously, Tenzin airbends at Amon, shoving him off stage, “Let's get out of here!” Korra yells as Tenzin shuffles his children off, Mako and Korra following.

They come to a split in the halls, “You and the kids go that way, I have something I need to do,” Korra tells Mako.

“No way, I got your back.” Mako, shakes his head.

“Korra…” Tenzin begins.

“You guys get out of here,” Korra interrupts, kneeling down to the kids level, careful to hide any fear, “We'll be fine, the Metal Clan has troops all around here, they'll help you get out of here. Bolin’s with them.”

The airbending master sighs, seeming to realize there's no talking Korra out of this, “Be safe,” he sighs, putting a hand on her shoulder.

“I will,” she promises, pulling the kids into a hug, before standing and hugging Tenzin quickly, “We'll see you when this is over.”

“Good luck, Avatar Korra.” Tenzin responds before turning down the hall.

“What are we going to do?” Mako frowns, “The plan is fucked, we should cut our losses.”

“We're taking down Amon.” Korra responds, running the other way down the hall, returning to the main hall, onto a small platform above the main stage, “Noatak!” She yells, and Amon turns, “Or I suppose Amon.”

“Ah, the Avatar graces us with her presence,” he motions towards them and Korra knows they have about two minutes before they have chi blockers surrounding them.

“Amon is a waterbender!” She yells over the boos and geers, “his name is Noatak, and he's the son of Yakone. He blocks people’s bending with bloodbending!” But then she sighs, “But that doesn't matter. I have no proof.” She looks over the crowd before her eyes fall on Amon, “And he's not wrong.” Suddenly the crowd is silent, “This city, this country, Republic City and the United Republic of Nations, it was an experiment by Avatar Aang and Fire Lord Zuko. They wanted to create a city, a country, where everyone, from every nation, of any bending type, could come together and make their own way.”

Korra crosses her arms, turning to look at the crowd once again, “Right now, we as your leaders, me as your Avatar, because I am your Avatar, every bit as much as I am the Earth Queen’s and the council’s Avatar or any other bender’s Avatar. We have failed you all. I am so sorry, but sorry alone doesn't fix it, but me and your leaders, m  
we will work to fix it. That's the great thing about experiments, you can change things and get new result. But we can't do it this, killing people in the same streets, removing bending, setting curfews on people just trying to live their lives. We have to be strong, all of us. And I know you've all been strong for so long, everyone in this city is strong. We have to come together, be stronger than fear and hate and lies, strong enough not let that fear rule us.”

“Words, words, words! Empty promises we've heard for years! Not the Avatar comes in as we stand at the cusp of victory, of us making the rules, what do you say, my brothers and sisters?”

“Let's get out of here,” she hears Mako mutter, pulling her arm, “we can figure something else out later.”

Reading the crowd, Korra nods, some believe her, but not enough.

Running back to the halls, Mako and her both knowing them well, “Emergency exit?” He asks turning even as he does.

“Best bet,” she nods as they take out two chi blockers. Running past the rooms they had been held in earlier, down the hall.

“Shit,” Mako cusses as they see, not only one of the gates is blocking their way, but there's a chi blocker, raising their glove towards them.

Looking around, Korra sees several pools of crimson surrounding a figure in green, she bends two fire daggers, forcing the anger in her down, the Avatar State is the last thing she needs right now. Right now she needs to get everyone out safe, “Here's what's going to happen, her, him and I are going walk out of here. You try and stop us, I will end you. Step aside, and everything will turn out fine for all of us.”

Of hand raises, “Thank Raava you're both okay,” Asami pulls off her mask, “You almost sounded scary, Avatar Korra.” Pulling the mask back on, “I take it the plan didn't work all the way?”

Korra shakes her head, hoisting Kuvira, still very much unconscious over her shoulder, “we’ll figure where and why after we get out of here,” She responds.

“Here, I got her,” Mako offers as Korra metalbends a hole into the gate.

“It's fine, just go,” she shakes her head, motioning to the room.

Mako quickly opens the door before beginning to tear at the pile of junk on top of the trapdoor in the corner. Asami closes the door as Korra carefully puts Kuvira down, frowning, even though the puddles of blood couldn't all be her’s, she has a deep cut on her neck and her left leg doesn't look good, the caved in shoulder guard and chest plate also worry her, knowing how thick and close those panels of metal are to the guards bodies, noticing the slow rise of her chest and a slight flutter on her neck, she sighs in relief. Pushing herself to her feet shaking her head, Korra moves to help Mako clear the trapdoor, “Watch the door, ‘Sami.”

“I won't be able to stay here or feed you anymore information after today, Korra,” the Equalist tells her, “Amon will know I'm a traitor anytime now, unless the Lieutenant dies before he can tell him, but I need to get out of dodge.”

Korra nods, “You come with us,”

“Korra-” Mako begins

“Without her, today alone we'd be nowhere near as close to totally defeating Amon then we are now. Never mind Iroh, Bolin, all the troops from Zaofu and Jiyi bear minimum would be equalized. I trust her Mako, please.”

Mako nods, “I don't like it, but you're right,” he agrees as they finally clear the trap door, “Let's go,” he motions over to Kuvira, “I'll lower her-” suddenly he stops, his face twisted in pain.

“Mako?” Korra frowns the split second before she feels an earily familiar pain. She forces his head to twist towards the door, Amon stands at the door.

“Good catch, Ms.Sato.” The deep voice says in a testing way, taking a step towards Mako and Korra.

She can see Mako being forced to kneel beside her, Asami at the wall by the door, “That was a great speech, Avatar Korra, I almost believed it myself. But it won't save your bending.” Korra's sure if he didn't have a mask on, he'd be grinning.

“No,” she forces out as he approaches her.

The word is echoed much louder by Asami, followed by a cackle of electricity.

“I expected this from your father maybe, miss Sato, But not you.” Amon responds, blood bending her into the closest wall, Korra sees her fall to the floor her eyes closed before his hand blocks her vision.

If blood bending was ice in her veins, this was fire, starting at her spine and increasing exponentially as it approached her forehead, where his thumb lies. “No,” she mouths mutely, unable to do anything through the pain, “No!” This time, it's not just her voice, it's her’s and Aang’s and Roku’s and every Avatar right down to the first, power flows through her, the Avatar State, weaker than every other time she's been in it these past weeks, no bending between her and danger, but still there. After a moment, the light flickers, she feels herself falling out of the State just as quickly as it started.

“Not so powerful now, Avatar.” Amon growls before grabbing her wrist, “I'll deal with these three later,” he motions to her three friends, all unconscious.

Korra tries to fight him, but she's just tired.

The lights are too bright on the stage as he throws her on her knees in front of a roaring crowd, her head banging on a metal grate, the metal no more alive under her then the wood near it, “Brothers and sisters! The Avatar has been equalized! We have won!”


	30. Chapter 30

“Death to the Avatar!” The chant starts from somewhere in the back, before echoing like her heartbeat through her chest. Korra attempts to push herself to her feet, her muscles burn, barely able to push herself even partially up before Amon kicks her back down.

“Yes, let's end the Avatar’s tyranny right now, tonight. No more Avatar's in our city!” Amon announces, pulling out a knife with and Equalist crest on the hilt, though Korra notes a few not fully covered swirls that tell her it was a Northern Water Tribe knife at one point. Two Equalists pull her to her knees as he approaches her. Korra can't help but think about the next Avatar, a mixed heritage boy from Republic City, hiding from the Equalists, A young, rich girl from Ba Sing Se, her parents in the Queen’s court, an orphaned girl from a poor village, firebending on accident when fighting a bandit, a runaway hiding in Zaofu, his crooked smile as he's caught, already planning on an escape, none of them seem quite right as she steadies her gaze into the holes of Amon's mask, she doesn't want to die, not like this, but she'll be damned if she lets this monster see her fear.

She feels the cold knife land on her neck, “Any last words, Avatar?”

“Not for you, Noatak.” She then turns towards the crowd, spotting a young child clinging to her mother's hand, wide amber eyes similar to the hate filled eyes of her mother, “I'm sorry I wasn't a better Avatar for you.” She finally settles on, hardening her eyes and looking back to Amon.

“Cute, but not enough,” He growls, digging the knife into her neck, gasping in pain, Korra pulls her wrist out of the Equalist’s hands, pulling her neck away, at the same time her hand lands on her own knives, blocking Amon’s with one, the other slashing across his leg, causing him to step back a bit.

“Get back here, scum,” the Equalists try and grab her, only to be tripped as Korra kicks at him, Korra pauses, noting that she didn't actually make contact, she still has her airbending, still as weak as it had been but still there, suddenly hope fills her. The Equalist attempts to get back up, only for a chi blocker putting their hands right over his heart, shocking them until he stops moving before flipping over the now unconscious body to the second Equalist. Pinning him and ready to shock him only to stop, tensing as Amon raises a hand to stop the mystery chi blocker, before yelling in pain.

“Asami!” She hears Hiroshi yell before she can fully realize when she knows the voice. A whirl of electricity fills the air as the Captain of Industry approaches Amon, ready to free his daughter. Only for Amon to turn on him, blood bending him into the air before slamming him into the far wall, much harder then he had Asami earlier, Hiroshi falls with a wet crack to the ground, his neck twisted at a deadly angle.

“Dad!” Asami yells, standing despite the hold, Korra punches at Amon throwing him off balance with airbending, the crowd murmurs in shock, not only had their leader just bent, but so had the Avatar despite them having just be told she had had it removed. Their leader was a liar.

Followed quickly by her airbending, a lightning bolt enters Amon’s chest, exiting on the other side. Korra looks up to see Mako on one of the balconies, looking about as bad as she felt but alive. Feeling her knees give out, Korra falls back to the stage, exhausted.

Amon is still conscious as Asami approaches him, many chi blockers and followers leaving as they see the tides turning. Asami removes the man's mask, smeared makeup all over his face, “So, this is what Amon looks like. Noatak, son of Yakone,” Korra sees from the girl's shoulders, she's hardly holding back all her sadness and anger, “You killed my father,” she growls, grabbing the Man’s forgotten knife, holding it to his throat, “You almost killed Korra.”

“Asami, don't.” Korra begs as Mako jumps onto the stage, as Korra tries to get up, the firebender steps next to Asami, grabbing her hand.

“Be better than him,” he murmurs, not pulling the knife away but still holding her back.

Asami’s shoulders start to shake as she nods, dropping the knife before chi blocking the terrorist, allowing him to drop to the floor. Mako helps her up as Korra finally stands, she doesn't drop Amon’s mask from her gloved hand as she approaches Korra, grabbing her hand as she approaches the front of the stage, looking upon the remaining followers, “Listen,” she raises her hand still gripping Korra's hand, her chi blocker's mask and Amon's mask in her other hand, “We're done with this war. We're not making change this way, except a lot of death and terror. I'm going to work with Avatar Korra, the Council, and other world leader to fix Republic City for nonbenders, for everyone to undo the tyranny Amon has wreaked on our home!”

The people seem to digest her words for several moments before they seem to calm, ready to wait and see instead of demanding blood and death, they seem to put a tentative trust in Asami, at least after Amon just blood bent several people in front of all of them.

Asami sighs in relief turning to Korra, “Let's get him somewhere secure.” She tells them, crossing her free arm over her chest, looking over to where her father had fallen, she jumps off the stage, slowly walking over to the body. She looks at the man who raised her, his dark eyes widened in shock, though she notes not as anger and hateful as they had been the last couple years.

She feels tears form the longer she stares, “‘Sami,” Korra whispers, unsure if the heiress even heard her as she brings a hand down on her shoulder, “I'm so sorry.” Asami turns, hugging the Avatar, who holds her for a moment before the empty feeling reminds her where they are, even with Amon subdued, it's probably best they get out soon, “Come on, we need to get out of here.”

Asami nods, careful not to turn to look at her father again as Korra carefully moves his body to a lying position, almost looking like he's asleep, “Put Noatak in one of the cages up stairs, we’ll give him to the United Forces or the police. I'll go get Kuvira, then we walk out of here.”

“I can drive,” Asami offers.

“You don't have to, ‘Sami, I will or Mako can.” Korra responds.

Asami looks like she's debating arguing, but is so exhausted that she doesn't.

Taking a deep breath as she approaches the room she lost her bending in, Korra slowly walks in, frowning deeply when she confirms the guard hasn't woken or moved at all. She grabs her left shoulder, “Hey, Vira, come on, wake up,” when she doesn't, she shakes the other girl's shoulder, “Please,” getting a small groan in response. Realizing the guard isn't going to wake up, she easily lifts the girl back onto her back before carefully making her way back down to the main stage.

“No way he's getting out of that cage without major bending, he should be secure.” Mako comes down a bit later, “Did he take the other elements, just leave Air? Or?”

Korra shakes her head, “I can't feel the earth, metal. The water or fire, I think I just have airbending.” The fact hasn't settled in, right now she just wants to get out of here

“We'll figure something out,” Asami promises.

“We need to radio the others, we can't get into the hideout like this,” Mako frowns.

“There's a radio in the car,” Asami responds, guiding them to a garage with several Satomobiles some vans and dozens of Satocycles, Korra carefully puts Kuvira in the back seat, Asami gets into the front passenger seat.

“I'll drive,” Mako tells her, “You make the radio call.”

Korra nods jumping in the back seat, Kuvira leaning on her just a bit as Mako pulls out of the garage, “This is Avatar Korra, anyone there.” She speaks into the radio.

“General Iroh, what's going on, Korra.”

“We caught Amon, we're um,” she pauses looking over those in the car, Mako has a quickly forming black eye and several small cuts and smears of blood, and he's by far the best off, “A little bloody battered and bruised, but we need help, can we meet up with someone?”

“Yeah,” Iroh lists off some coordinates near the cave.

“Sounds good. How is everyone?”

“A few minor injuries a couple not so minor, all in all pretty successful, we have healer looking over them and those rescued.”

“Okay, tell everyone that they can leave after they're done being looked over with minimal problems, the Equalist shouldn't really be a problem.”

“You're sure? Even if Amon won't be a problem he has to have a next in command, even without being able to remove bending…”

“The next of command and the next next of command are both dead, the person in command now, I trust her to help us out with easing tension, as long as we help her.”

“Okay, I'll trust you, Avatar. See you when you return.”

“Look forward to it, General Iroh.” Korra hands the radio to Asami to hang back on the console, “You heard that, right, Mako?”

“Yep, I'm on it.” The firebender nods, turning down the street.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N- 30 chapters, over 70k words :) holy cow when I started this, I honestly expected this too be much shorter. But thank you all for reading this and for your support:)
> 
> I plan to go through all of Korra and well after that. Season 2 we're going further from Canon. But that brings me to a question, do you want me to post the interlude from the end of Book one and Book two as well as Book two as a seperate story? Or post them here as one long story? Please put it in the Comments during these last couple chapters and whichever is more popular, I'll do that.
> 
> Also, we need Avatar and Korra fanfiction writers for this contest https://www.fanfiction.net/forum/Avatar-The-Last-Writer-Competition/209605/ it's going to be really fun, but we need more writers, specifically for the Earth Kingdom (which I am the Sifu of, and only has 3 writers) we really want to get this off the ground, so please consider joining.


	31. Chapter 31

“We need to stabilize the city before we leave, and we have to go, we need to see if mother can help you and the others.” Tenzin’s right and she knows it. Lin seems to have a little hope, so she will as well, this Equalist Revolution was just putting off the inevitable. The return to Air Temple Island had been great, but there’s plenty to rebuild, both here and in the city, physically and between people.

Korra crosses her arms and nods, “I'm going to find a way to fix this.” She turns, looking to the Zaofu guard who's sweating by one of the radios, frowning she walks over to him, “Everything okay, sergeant?”

She crosses her arms, the man has to be at least five years her senior, yet he jumps and finches before looking at her, “Ah-Avatar Korra,” he bows to her, “No. Everything is fine, I just need to let the matriarch know when we intend to return and a summary of events, and since the Lieutenant is indisposed,” Korra looks over to the room where the healers are still working on Kuvira, who hasn't regained consciousness fully yet, “And…”

She looks in his eyes and lets out a small chuckle, “You're scared to tell Su that Vira is hurt,” sighing, she rolls her eyes, extending her hand to him, “Give it to me,” when he hesitates she rolls her eyes again, “Don't you think it'll be okay for the Avatar to tell her, you can tell her your after action report after she's let out some steam on me, Sergent…” she trails off waiting for a name.

“Laoh.” He fills in, handing her the radio microphone.

“Republic City to Zaofu, Zaofu do you copy?” Korra calls easily leaning against the table, frowning when the earth doesn't yield to her, she can't help but try, it's so easy to forget when you're not right beside it.

“This is Zaofu, we copy.”

“This is Avatar Korra, can you please connect me with the matriarch, please?”

“Yes, Avatar,” there's a click then a pause.

“Hello?”

“Su?”

“Korra,” the voice is worried, “You were not the person I expected to hear from,” Su finishes diplomatically.

“Yeah, I really didn't either.”

“Everything okay?” She's certain Su is fiddling with the various knick knacks on her desk.

“Zaofu had mostly minor injuries, except-” she bites her lip, “Kuvira was hurt pretty badly.”

“Will she be okay?” Su demands, worry hiding in her voice.

“Yeah she’ll be sore for quite awhile but she'll be fine, give it a month or two max, as soon as she wakes up, a day or two and she'll be good to return.”

“You're sure?”

“If I wasn't, we wouldn't be talking, you'd be talking to Sergeant Laoh, I wouldn't have left her side. You know that, Su.”

There's a sigh and a nod, “Please keep me updated, Korra.”

“I will,” Korra nods, handing the microphone to the Zaofu guard.

•••••

The next night, Korra sits in the chair beside the bed Kuvira is still laid up in, “You look like crap, Vira,” she murmurs looking over the older girl’s face, grabbing her hand softly, “Come on, it's not funny anymore, wake up.”

The radio softly flows throughout the room, Korra hums to herself, looking for any sign that the other girl is going to wake up.

“Hey,” a new voice says.

Korra looks up, “Hey, Sami,” she forces herself to smile, “Beifong and Tenzin need me?”

“Nope,” Asami shakes her head, “Need anything, Korra?”

“No, I'm good,” she smiles softly, “Thank you, Asami.”

Asami nods, looking around the room, before her gaze lands on Kuvira, who she seems to stare at too long before nodding, “Okay, I'm going to go to bed,” she steps closer to Korra, dropping her hand onto Korra's shoulder, “Please try and get some sleep tonight.”

Korra nods, shrugging the heiress's hand off her shoulder, “I will.”

Asami nods before leaving the room with a small sigh.

“Come on, get up,” she breathes again before settling in for the night.

Several hours later, Korra feels the hand in her own move, snapping her eyes open Korra looks towards Kuvira, very quickly catching her now open eyes, turning on the lamp beside her, “Hey,” she murmurs, “You're awake,” she grins Kuvira's hands still in her own.

Kuvira can't hold back the soft groan as pain seems to radiate from everywhere, “What happened?”

“Well, the plan way going fine, then it went pear shaped, you got hurt. I'm so sorry Kuvira.”

“Hey, why are you apologizing, Avatar?” Kuvira grunts pushing herself up using one hand, her left shoulder bound.

“You got hurt from my plan Vira, I fucked up, Asami's father died, we all got bloodbent and…” she sighs, running her hand through her hair, “We're lucky any injuries weren't worse,” she closes her eyes, “I'm so sorry.”

“Hey, come on Korra, it's fine, I'll be fine,” Kuvira promises easily.

Korra shakes her head, “It's not. But anyway, how are you feeling? No lying.”

“Not so good.” Kuvira admits softly.

Korra nods, “Where?” She stands frowning.

“To start, everywhere…” Kuvira groans with a small smirk.

“That's helpful, Vira.” She turns to look at her, “Is call Su here, tell her your giving me shit, but I'd rather not deal with her and Lin and whatever that drama is with only one element, so let's not go with that and you stop being a smartass.” Everything is said lightly, Korra's smile doesn't waver, so it takes a minute for Kuvira to digest everything the Avatar just told her.

“Pause, go back.” Kuvira raises a hand pushing herself to a sitting position, eyes narrowing slightly, “What do you mean one element?”

“I got my airbending, it's more then ghost winds and phantom breezes now,” Korra forces a crumpled ghost of a smile.

Frowning, “And?” Kuvira pushes.

“Amon blocked the other three,” Korra admits softly, “Now where's hurting?”

“What, no Korra, that's not something you just gloss over. I can deal with some pain, talk to me.”

“There's nothing to talk about Kuvira, we're going down to the South Pole to see if Katara can help, if she can't, I have a few more ideas and if that doesn't work…” she trails off, looking away from the guard, she clears her throat, “Yeah,” a small crooked smile.

“You want me to stop lying to you, then don't you dare start lying to me, Avatar.”

“It'll be fine, Vira.” It's said more to herself then the guard, “It's reasons like this that the Avatar Cycle exists.”

“Korra,” she growls. “No,” rubbing her wrists, “We'll figure something else out, don't even think like that.”

Korra shakes her head, her eyes going shiny, her hand shaking horribly, her shoulders not far behind. She screws her eyes shut, shaking her head again.

“Korra?” Kuvira breathes, “Come here,” she begs. The Avatar takes two steps closer, close enough for Kuvira to easily catch her arm, pulling the Avatar closer, into a hug, “Hey, it'll all be alright, we'll figure it out, I got you, come on, I got you,” she murmurs into the Avatar's shoulder.

Korra shakes her head, “You're probably right,” she steps back, forcing herself to calm, “You never answered me, what hurts?”

“Head, leg, shoulder, chest when I breathe,” she lists off.

Korra nods, grabbing some painkillers and handing them to the guard, “Sorry I can't do more right now, I can go get a healer?” She offers.

“No, it's fine, Korra, it's late, I can wait til morning,” she easily swallows the painkillers, “Here, help me run through what happened how I got here?”

“Okay,” Korra nods taking a seat.

“Sato let me, Bolin and the guards in, but you and Mako weren't there like you were supposed to be, the Equalists took you early, Asami went to get you two, me and Bolin released the remaining prisoners, but I guess the Equalists found out cause they were on us quick. I told Bolin to go, bend the cage in the way, then just bits and pieces.”

“Asami said she found you unconscious with Amon's right hand, the Lieutenant, he was beating you, going to kill you, he had a knife to your neck, Vira. She said it looks like you fought, killed three of the Equalists, and he was certainly ready to kill you too, Asami stepped in, electrocuted him, chi blocked him, locked him up, waited with you, Mako and I caught up with you two, we almost got out, then we didn't,” she shudders a bit, “We got the upper hand by luck, Mako electrocuted Amon, Asami kinda took over as the leader of the Equalists. Yesterday and today we've been trying to get Republic City to some state of running before we go South for a couple days.”

Kuvira nods, frowning slightly, not only did she kill three people but she doesn't remember doing it, and she finds she doesn't feel too horrible about either. She nods a bit, “What's the damage, Physically?”

"Left broken ankle, bruised your knee badly, same side five broken ribs, four left one right, dislocated right shoulder, broken radius right. Stage 2 concussion. Some burns, though nothing major to speak of, and a bunch of bruises you'll be feeling for awhile." Korra smiles, "Nothing that shouldn't heal on its own within two months if you take it easy, a few weeks with a good healer."she fights back a yawn.

“That explains everything,” she nods.

“On which front?”

“Everywhere hurting. You being worried. You looking like crap. Well, that and you having to play politics.”

“I’m fine, Vira.” Korra responds.

Kuvira rolls her eyes, “Go to sleep, Avatar, I’m fine.”

Korra sighs before nodding, “Wake me up if you need anything.”

“Worrywart,” Kuvira murmurs.

•••••

The next morning there’s a knock on the door, Kuvira snaps awake, pushing herself up a bit as the door slides open. She looks over, despite her trying to get Korra to go sleep in an actual bed, she’s half laid out on the edge of the bed, her hand gripping Kuvira’s tightly.

“You're awake,” it’s stated as any other fact as Asami enters the room, “And she’s asleep. Not sure which is more shocking.”

“She hasn't been sleeping?” She frowns.

“The boys say she's been last asleep and first up, if she's slept, for the past couple weeks.” The heiress frowns, “It's good that she is now.”

“I hear I have you to thank for this not being a lot worse.” Kuvira smiles.

“Korra cares about you, and not having another death on my conscious is another bonus.” Asami answers.

“Honest,” Kuvira responds, “Nice, I like it.”

Asami facepalms slightly, “I'm sorry, it's just been a long few days, weeks, months, I am really happy you're okay.”

“It's fine, Sato,” Kuvira shakes her head with a small laugh, “I promise we'll all be mostly out of your hair as soon as we can.”

“Well the trains won't be up and running for another few days, same with the harbor, so you have some time, and Korra probably won't let you leave til you're a little more healed.”

“Yep,” Korra's voice grumbles, “And I got the okay from Su so-” she tails off shocking her tongue out.

“I don't have to listen to you and Su, Avatar.” Kuvira's response is automatic even if they both know she's lying.

“Then I'll make you stay,” a small grin plays on Korra's mouth.

“Oh?” Kuvira chuckles, “Think you can beat me?”

“Well, if I can't beat you, I can certainly keep up til you get winded or I get back up.”

Asami breaks in, ”And with your ribs, I don't think it'd be that long.”

“Fine,” Kuvira sighs, crossing her arms with a small smile.

“Korra, Tenzin wants you at the meeting at city hall to try and keep the peace.”

Korra stands, “So only shouting matches? I can't promise much else.”

“I'll behave, Tenzin and the other council members will behave probably, so hopefully just small squabbles.”

Korra nods, turns to Kuvira, “I'm really sorry, I have to go. But can we please talk tonight?”

Kuvira freezes for a moment, knowing exactly what she wants to talk about, “Go do your job, Avatar. I'll be here and we can talk when you get back. I promise.” She nods, rip the bandage off.

•••••

“Hey,” Korra smiles softly when she gets back to the island, “How ya feeling?”

“Well, I can breathe without feeling like I'm gonna cry, so that's an improvement.” Kuvira responds.

“Good,” Korra nods, shifting on her feet, looking anywhere but Kuvira.

The guard bites her lip, “Korra, can we please just get this over with? I shouldn't have kissed you, I'm so sorry. Can we please just forget it happened.”

After a moment, Korra gives a soft smile, “You know, you've got yourself so convinced I'm mad, you haven't let me get a word in edgewise.” She lets out a small laugh, “Can I tell you what I think, please?”

Kuvira nods, looking at her hands.

“I'm not mad, Vira I'm not.” She shakes her head, “Vaatu, two weeks ago I’d’ve been thrilled, but,” she sighs, “Even if Katara can restore my bending, can teach me how to fix what Amon did, I need to help fix Republic City, make whatever happens next as peaceful as possible. I need to put everything I can into being the Avatar, and you don't deserve scraps, and I don't see either of us coming out of that unscarred. I really can't lose one of my best friends because I can't be enough.”

Kuvira closes her eyes, before agreeing, “We're both not at a good point for anything to happen.”

Korra stands, “But sometime, when the world and our lives are a little calmer.” she gives Kuvira a quick kiss on the lips, “I'd really like to, hopefully that time is sooner rather than later.”

Kuvira nods again, “So, how was the meeting today?”

Korra sighs with a small laugh, “Don't get me started…”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I plan to go through all of Korra and well after that. Season 2 we're going further from Canon. But that brings me to a question, do you want me to post the interlude from the end of Book one and Book two as well as Book two as a seperate story? Or post them here as one long story? Please put it in the comments during these last couple chapters and whichever is more popular, I'll do that.
> 
> Also, we need Avatar and Korra fanfiction writers for this contest forum/Avatar-The-Last-Writer-Competition/209605/ it's going to be really fun, but we need more writers, specifically for the Earth Kingdom (which I am the Sifu of, and only has 3 writers) we really want to get this off the ground, so please consider joining.


	32. Chapter 32

"The Antarctic Circle!" A voice yells, though they're nowhere near the land Korra can't stand the thought of, it's still home so she slowly makes her way up to the deck to take in the twilight sun against the bitter cold.

The cold engulfs her as she looks skyward, they're not far enough south for the sun to actually have fully broken over the horizon but the sky is still light.

A small shuddering breath pulled her out of her thoughts, she turns to see Bolin, his arms crossed, trying to get warm, “The White Lotus have coats if you want, Bo.” She murmurs before looking upon the silent water again.

“We were looking for you,” The earthbender’s words were calm as he approaches her.

“Well, here I am.” She doesn't turn to him, instead glaring at the horizon, “What do you need?”

“Tenzin said we should try and get some sleep, we're about 8 hours out and it's a little after midnight.”

Korra nods, knowing tomorrow, or now today, is going to be a long day, she looks out on the silent water again before following Bolin below deck, hoping to maybe get some sleep.

•••••

“I'm sorry, Korra, but I can't undo what Amon did to your bending.”

“It's bloodbending, it has to be, couldn't you just…” Korra begs

Katara shakes her head, “I don't know the further damage that bloodbending could do.”

Korra sighs, then nods, her entire body feels heavy, her chest empty, she keeps her face like stone as the enderly waterbender walks to the front of the hut.

After a minute, Korra slowly stands, brushing pass Katara, “We'll figure something out,” she hears Tenzin promise, she nods once before quickly leaving not hearing the words her mother and father said not anyone else in the room.

Her feet care her past Naga, easily shifting in the snow as she runs without thought, tears freezing to her cheeks. Suddenly all she can see is deep blue, letting herself pant a bit, she pauses, swinging her right foot over the cliff, letting a tear fall to the water 50 meters below. Even if the fall didn’t kill her, surely the ocean would finish the job, a waterbender could survive, but then, she’s not a waterbender anymore. It wouldn’t be hard, just one step forward and the world gets a new Avatar, one who can presumably do the job of the Avatar.

She sees a bit of yellow out of the corner of her eye, her hands crumple into fists, she turns, the air snapping at the figure as she forces her voice not to break, “I don’t want to talk, Tenzin.”

A calm voice, familiar but at the same time foreign, powerful responds, “But you called me.”

Getting mad, Korra shakes her head, feeling her jaw lock, “I don’t want to talk to you, Aang,” she takes a couple steps closer to her past life.

The past Avatar nods, “When you need me, I’ll be there, Avatar Korra.”

And just like that, she’s alone again.

Feeling her heart pound in her chest, her breath heaving through her chest as she closes her eyes.

“Korra,” a voice calls.

“Leave, Sami.” She orders, needing the heiress to listen, not daring to turn and look at her.

“Okay, I will. I just need to talk to you first, then I'll go back.”

“No, leave, go back to Republic City. You and the boys go back, I'm not the Avatar anymore, you don't need to stay,” still not looking at Asami  
  
“Korra.” She echoes, taking a couple steps closer, “Come on, please,” she smiles slightly, “We can figure something out, we will.”

Korra scoffs, pulling away, she feels her eyes harden “Isn't this what you wanted, Asami? Everyone's equal now, but I don't know how to fix it, and we don't know how to fix the city, I don't know how I'll be able to keep any semblance of balance in the world!”

Asami frowns, then nods, “Okay,” she nods then sighs, “Any help you need to fix this, I'll be here,” Asami starts walking back, past Naga.

Sighing, Korra wipes at the now frozen tear tracks, closing her eyes again, silently promising herself and the next Avatar that she would fix this, “Come on, Naga,” she calls sadly, getting on the polar bear dog, motioning her back to the village.

She tries not to notice how relieved the adults look when she returns, when Tenzin puts his hand on her shoulder, she leans into it, looking out to where Pema and Kya are playing with the airbender kids.

“I'm just, really tired.” She admits barely above a whisper.

Her mother nods, “We set up rooms for you and your friends, sweetie.”

“Me, Pema and the kids will be down the way at mother's and Lin is staying with Kya.” Tenzin tells her, she nods.

Her mother leads her down the hall, she lets out a bitter smile remembering the time she tore up the hall when her father had tried to give her a bath, When her mother stops in front of her childhood bedroom door, she frowns a little, “Your father and I never really got around to cleaning it out, so it's pretty much like when you left it.”

Korra nods, unsure what would come out if she dared to open her mouth.

Pulling her daughter into a hug, “I missed you, Korra.” Pulling away, she kisses the Avatar’s forehead, “Goodnight, sweetie, I love you.” She doesn't wait for Korra to respond before giving her one more sad half smile.

Korra takes a deep breath before opening the door, sure enough, almost identical to when she left it, she went home maybe once a month to spend the night with her parents, though it had gotten less and less frequent as she got into Earthbending. She runs her hand over the shelf of Water Tribe memorabilia and bending scrolls from all four nations before falling face first into the bed.

She doesn't even try to stop the tears from soaking the pillow, pulling the fur blanket up to her shoulders. Eventually, she's out of tears, left only with emptiness.


	33. Chapter 33

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. This is the last chapter of the first book :). Thank you all for continuing to read this. The next book will be up soon, and it's where I plan to start diverging from canon even more. Stick around to the author's note at the end for a teaser for How to Save a Life Book 2: Blood and War.

The next morning, Korra’s done with self pity. Rolling out of bed, she pulls her hair back, looking over the many scrolls, “There has to be something here,” She sighs, grabbing an old Water Tribe map, “There has to be a way to fix this.”

She rolls the map open, Aang hasn’t been particularly helpful, but maybe the other Avatars could help, she copies it easily. Grabbing a marker, she marks Kyoshi island, Roku’s island, and the North Pole, “If Aang can’t help, maybe the other Avatars can help.” She silently hopes that the bloodbending can be undone in the physical world, but sighing, she circles the North Pole and the Swamp. Then she folds her copy, shoving it under one of her knives.

Rolling her shoulders, she walks out of the room.

“Morning Korra,” her mother greets, Her and Korra seem to be the only ones up yet, “You're up early.” Senna says cutting some vegetables for the breakfast cooking on the stove.

“Habit,” Korra gives as a response, grabbing a knife and one of the fish at the counter before starting to cut it up as well, “I'm not staying long,” she tells her mother, not looking up from the fish.

“I figured, Republic City-”

Korra cuts her mother off, “I'm not going back there, at least not yet,” Senna pauses the food preparation, looking at her daughter.

“Oh?”

“I need to try and fix what Amon did to everyone,” Korra explains, “But my connections to my past lives, they're pretty iffy. I want to go see if Kyoshi or Roku or Kuruk or Aang, if they had anything like this happen, if they have a way to fix it. And if they don't, I want to check the spirit world.”

“I'm sure Tenzin and the White Lotus will be more then willing to help you.”

Korra shakes her head, “I honestly don't trust the White Lotus, and Tenzin and the others have enough on their plates, I have to fix this on my own.”

“Korra…”

Just then there's a knock at the hut. Frowning, Senna goes to check who it is.

“…is docking…” she hears a voice say.

“Korra, please go get your father.” Senna asks, her arms crossed, and a deep frown on her face.

“What's going on?” Korra asks, putting the cooking knife down.

“I'll explain in a bit, please go get your dad.”

Nodding, Korra runs down the hall, knocking on her parents door, getting a surprised answer after a moment, “Mom wants you, asap.” Korra says before running back down the hall, a groggy Mako stops her midway back to the Kitchen, Bolin's face peeking from behind.

“What's going on?” The firebender asks, fiddling a bit with his obviously just pulled on undershirt.

“Not sure, something big though,” Korra shrugs, “Down by the docks by the sound of it,” she looks around with a grin, “Shall we go see?”

Mako nods, “let us go get dressed.”

The boys are dressed even faster than her father, “Should we get Asami?” Bolin asks as she starts walking down the hall.

Korra shrugs as they come to the kitchen.

“Morning kids,” Senna smiles, but looks worriedly towards the door.

“Morning Senna.” Mako replies

“Dad's on his way,” Korra tells her, then her eyes narrow, “What's going on?”

Senna seems to debate before sighing, “Your uncle and cousins just docked.”

“Uncle Unalaq? Don't they have enough going on up North.” Korra frowns.

“We don’t know, your father is going to go greet him and find out.”

Korra sighs then nods, “Any idea when Tenzin wants to leave?”

“He and Lin think as soon as possible, the city's still teatering,” Mako shrugs, “They we're gonna talk to you this morning.”

Korra nods, biting the inside of her cheek, popping each of her fingers with her thumb, “Is it okay if I go for a walk? Clear my head before breakfast?”

Senna nods, “Sure Sweetie, try not to stay out for more than an hour.”

“Will do,” Korra nods, grabbing the coat she had brought with, dark teal, nearing black with a grey trim, not Water Tribe colors, but none of the other nations either, “Want to come with, Bo?” The others would stop her plan, but Bolin would maybe help her.

“Sure!” He seems excited, Korra remembers he's never left Republic City.

“Grab a coat.” Mako reminds him as he brushes past Korra, before blushing and grabbing the coat the White Lotus provided before following Korra out the door.

As they get further away from the house, Korra motions to a few of the people she recognizes and tells Bolin about them, Varrick caught her in an almost twenty minute conversation about some invention or another, Asami probably could've explained it to her, but all she knows is the inventor took a liking to Bolin.

“So, what are you planning when you get back to Republic City?” Korra asks, kicking at the snow.

“Nope,” he shakes his head, “I think Mako’s gonna join the police, he'll be old enough next month, and they need all the help they can get. I'll probably see if I can get a job somewhere or something, see if the Fire Ferrets can make a comeback or help you and Asami and the others with reconstruction.” Bolin shrugs, “We're pretty good and finding things to do.”

“I'm not going back to the city.” Korra shakes her head, “I have to try and fix this, but and I can't think of a way to do that in Republic n City.” She stops, turning to stop the earthbender from going any further, “Do you want to go withy me? Kyoshi Island, North Pole, the Foggy Swamp, a few other places.”

“Wouldn't Mako or Asami be better to ask this?” Bolin frowns.

Korra shakes her head, “I'm asking you, Bo.”

“Let me think about it.”

She nods, “I'm hoping-”

“Ah, Korra, there you are.” A new voice says as a hand falls on her shoulder.

She forces her face to fall blank before she turns around, “Uncle Unalaq, Desna, Eska,” she bows slightly to each, “My father was going to come get you, Uncle.”

“No need to bother my brother, you're the one I came to talk to.” The man smiles.

“Oh?” She rolls her shoulders back.

“Yes, I heard you had your bending removed by Amon.”

“News travels fast then,” she shrugs, putting her hands in her pockets, “I'll find a way to fix it.”

“That's what I had hoped to hear. I'm here to help.” He seems to smile too widely. “The Southern Water Tribe has been cut off from the spirits for far too long to help you. I have a strong connection to the spirits, I believe I can help you, up in the Northern Tribe.”

“Unalaq,” her father's voice thunders through the street.

“Brother,” Unalaq smiles as the twins bow to their uncle in greeting.

“What are you doing here, Unalaq?”

“Just offering to help my niece. Besides I needed to check on our sister tribe.”

“He thinks he can help me find a way to get my bending back, and everyone else's.” Korra speaks up.

“Bolin,” Tonraq motions the earthbender away, Bolin seems to read the situation as he seems to nearly run back to the house, “You aren't taking Korra anywhere, Unalaq. Tenzin is her teacher and-”

Korra grits her teeth, her eyes narrow, throwing any doubt out of her mind, “Yes, I'd be eternally grateful for the help, Chief Unalaq.”

“Perfect, we can leave tomorrow morning.” He smiles before leaving down the street.

“We'll get you just before we leave, cousin.” Eska tells her before she and Desna follow their father.

“What were you thinking, Korra?” Her father growls, pulling his hand on her shoulder, “My brother-”

“Is the only one who has a potential solution. And you can't control what I do.” She pulls away, “I'm going to go tell my friends what's going on, most my clothes are still packed.”

She walks back to the house before her father can say anything else.

•••••

“You sure about this?” Mako asks for the umpteenth time in the last 24 hours.

“No, but I don't have many other options.” Korra replies looking at the Northern Water Tribe ship, “I'll keep you guys updated. I'll probably be back to the city in 6 months. Don't worry Sharkbrows.” She responds pulling the firebender into a hug.

She had already said her goodbyes to Bolin, as well as a promise to come back to finish her airbending training as soon as possible, and a very nice, don't make a mess from Lin. Her parents, specifically her father, had resigned themselves that she was leaving again. She turns to the last person she has to say goodbye to.

“Asami,” her hand falls into a fist as she swings it by her side.

“Avatar Korra.” Asami responds, taking a deep breath, she smiles a bit, “Take care, Avatar.”

Korra bites her tongue sharply, stopping herself from saying the first thing that comes to mind, “I will,” She nods, “You do the same, Asami.”

“Don’t worry about me, Korra.” Asami sighs, running her hand through her hair, “When, if, you want help, I said I’d help you, just because the Equalist are done, doesn't mean I'm done helping.”

Korra sighs then nods, “I'll keep that in mind,” she shifts the bag on her shoulder as the ships horns blares, “I have to go,” she promises once more to keep in contact. Squaring her shoulders, “This is the best shot,” she reminds herself, stepping onto the boat, praying to the spirits this is the right choice.

“Welcome, Avatar Korra,” one of the men at the top say, “Next stop, Northern Water Tribe.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "You sure about this?"
> 
> "No."
> 
> "Sounds reasonable."
> 
> "The Spirit world!"
> 
> "What's Harmonic Convergence?"
> 
> "Everything's perfect for when the planets align."
> 
> "SOON RAAVA SOON."
> 
> “My home is at war! Someone tried to kill me! So yeah, I'm a little worried.”
> 
> "Why should we trust you?"
> 
> "We're blood."
> 
> ”Now to raze Republic City, then everywhere else will fall.”
> 
> "Do you make it a habit of following every spirit you see?"
> 
> "I don't know, call it a gut… feeling."
> 
> "Why did it lead us to the Swamp?"
> 
> "Korra! Help! Please!"
> 
> "You kids get out of here! Go, now!"
> 
> "Just get me in close, I think I can control it."
> 
> "How'd you do that?"
> 
> "Honestly, wasn't sure I could."
> 
> "I have to get out of here."
> 
> "Why did you help me?"
> 
> "We're blood Korra."
> 
> "You're back!"
> 
> "You were gone without word for over a year, Korra, yeah, I'm a little mad."
> 
> "I'm opening that portal. I'm sorry I don't have your support."
> 
> "Marching orders?"
> 
> "We split up, then we end this."
> 
> "Hold on, I'm gonna try something."
> 
> "Well done, Avatar Korra."
> 
> Book 2 Blood and War coming presumably 3/19/18

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to hear your thoughts.


End file.
